Sir Pooh the Great and Gummiful
by Bob Wright
Summary: When Duke Igthorne invades the Hundred Acre Wood, looking to develop a super weapon against Dunwyn, Pooh and his friends go to warn the kingdom. Can they and the Gummis save the kingdom, and prove a Bear of Very Little Brains can be a hero? NOW COMPLETED
1. Escape to the Hundred Acre Wood

SIR POOH THE GREAT AND GUMMIFUL

BY

BOB WRIGHT

AUTHOR'S NOTE: You may recall how the theme song to the former Gummi Bears/Winnie the Pooh Hour block went "Winnie and the Gummis, rolled into one." After some thinking, I devised this way to in fact roll them into one. Pooh and his friends are largely thus as they were in The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh here, for your benefit.

Adventures of the Gummi Bears and the popular modern conceptions of Winnie the Pooh and friends are registered trademarks of the Walt Disney Company; Pooh as a character is a registered trademark of the A.A. Milne Estate, or whichever similar group would hold the claim. And now, sit back and enjoy the story.

* * *

"Onward, men, there's not much more to go," ordered the large mustached man, waving the virtual army of ogres following him up the side of the steep mountain forward.

"Humble Toadie feeling exhausted," complained the small green ogre directly behind him, "Can't we take a rest?"

"Rest? We only rested seventy miles ago! You can manage this, Toadwart!" the man snapped at him, "See, the destination is in sight," he pointed upwards at the ruined fortress above him, "At last, the treasures of the ancient Gummis, and no one to stop me from getting them...!"

"Dukey, sound like knights still on our tail," another ogre called out below. And indeed, the man could hear, over the grunts of his ogres, the sound of horses and men's shouts in the woods below. "Then we don't have much time," he declared, grabbing hold of the ledge atop the mountain, "We need to find something quickly, because I want blood now!"

He hauled himself up and glanced towards the east, where, even from a great distance, the glow of an epic fire could be seen burning. "I never thought you'd have the nerve, Gregor; attacking Drekkmore directly and burning my castle to the ground!" he growled out loud, his fists and teeth clenched in hatred, "Well, if you want total war against Duke Sigmund Igthorne, then it's total war you shall have! And now, let's see what those accursed Gummis can give me to use against you!"

"Most fortunate Dukey found map to abandoned Gummi fortress in closet before castle burned down," Toadwart opined, gesturing at the parchment in Igthorne's hand.

"Indeed so," Igthorne kicked the door to the fortress open. "All right, men; find me a weapon, a magical item, anything that can be used against Dunwyn!" he ordered his ogres, who surged forward into the fortress. He held up his hand at the last two ogres in line. "I have a job for the two of you," he told them, "Head to Carpy Mountain and propose a formal alliance with the Carpy King. It's about time I utilize those flying terrors."

"You got it, Dukey," the ogres saluted him and bustled off down a mountain trail on the other side of the peak. Igthorne hurried into the fortress himself; the shouts of the knights were getting louder, hinting King Gregor's troops had locked in on their trail and were starting to climb the mountain. He hoped to find something quick, or it was likely all over, especially this high off the ground...

"Anything?" he called to his ogres, who were throwing objects in the ruined hall all over the place.

"Nothing yet, Dukey," a large yellow ogre declared, reaching for a table to toss, but accidentally grabbing Toadwart instead. The small ogre was hurled into a painting of a Great Gummi wizard on the wall...

...which fell down off the wall with him, revealing a secret cavity behind it. "Good work, Toady; think you found something," Igthorne commended his dazed adjutant. "Yes, Gummi medallions!" he exclaimed, snatching a whole box of them out of the compartment, "Yes, these will definitely come in handy, if I can figure out how to work them . And what's this?"

He shoved the box of medallions to Toadwart and snatched a long scroll out of the hole. "Hmm, very interesting," he mused, his eyebrows going up.

"What that say, Dukey?" an orange ogre leaned over his shoulder.

"It says here that a band of ancient Gummis were besieged by humans in this fortress centuries ago," Igthorne read off the scroll, "They opened a portal to another realm to escape just as the fortress was falling-and the portal is right over there," he pointed at a large mirror on the wall, "And the incantation to open it is right here," he noticed it at the bottom of the scroll, "Yes, this is perfect, men; we'll escape to another realm, and plot our revenge there, where Gregor will never reach us..."

"Dukey, knights are in fortress!" another ogre called up the hall. And Igthorne could now hear the shouts of Dunwyn's finest troops echoing off the stone walls of the fortress. "Then let's go now!" he rushed to the mirror, grabbed a Gummi medallion out of Toadwart's box, and slipped it over his neck. _"Undrite Acrite Oodrite!"_ he rapidly read the incantation on the scroll. With a loud zapping sound, the mirror lit up with a bright light...

...right as the Dunwyn knights rushed into the hall, swords and pikes drawn. "Hold it right there, Duke Igthorne!" demanded the red mustached leader of the knights, stepping forward with his sword extended towards the duke, "You're under arrest in the name of King Gregor for treason against the kingdom of Dunwyn...!"

"Really, Sir Tuxford? Catch me if you can! Some of you hold them off!" Igthorne leaped through the portal in the mirror. Toadwart and most of the ogres quickly followed, the rest swinging their clubs at the knights until the portal started closing, at which point they themselves dove through right before it closed. Sir Tuxford pressed against the now ordinary mirror. "He got away," he mumbled softly.

"Do you have him, Sir Tuxford?" the sea of knights parted to reveal King Gregor himself, in his full war regalia, stepping towards the mirror.

"Unfortunately not, sire; he seems to have escaped into some other world through this," Sir Tuxford pointed at the mirror.

"Did he?" Gregor pressed against the mirror, but nothing happened. "Do you have any idea where this might lead to?"

"I'm afraid I don't rightly know, sire."

Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter. Dunwyn is safe if he's left it. Establish a guard of a few knights here to make sure he doesn't come back," Gregor ordered his top knight. "Good work, men," he commended his entire command, "Dunwyn is safe now. Our seven hundredth anniversary celebration can now proceed in peace."

"Sire, look," one of the knights was picking up a dropped medallion from the floor, "This almost looks like...dare I say...a Gummi Bear medallion?"

"Let me see that," Gregor took it off him and examined it closely, "No, probably just a trinket dropped by a transient that spent the night here. After all, there are no such things as Gummi Bears. All right men, let's go home."

* * *

With low cries, Igthorne and his ogres tumbled through the other end of the portal, landing with a splash in a brook running underneath a small wooden bridge. "That fun; let's do that again," an ogre in the back of the line declared.

"Where we at?" another chimed in, glancing around, "Look just like Dunwyn woods."

"It sort of does," Igthorne agreed, trudging to the bank and wringing himself dry, "I can see why the Great Gummis might have fled to here."

"So what we do now?" a third ogre asked out loud, joining his boss on the bank.

"Start searching for any sign of the Great Gummis in here," Igthorne ordered, "Anything we can find, let's figure out how best to use it."

"Okey dokey, Duke-amondo. Start searching, men!" Toadwart ordered the other ogres, who started shoving over boulders and uprooting trees. Igthorne stepped aside as several of them seized hold of a large oak tree next to him and hurled it across the brook...

...sending a small bluebird that had landed on it flying along with it. "Hey, what's going on!?" she protested out loud, rolling onto the grass.

"Ooh, birdie speak!" a purple ogre grabbed the bluebird before she could move, "This magic place indeed!"

"Let me see that bird," Igthorne rushed over the bridge above the portal; talking animals were a good sign there were Great Gummis somewhere nearby. "All right, Bird," he snatched the bluebird off the ogre, "I have a few questions, and I'll expect some answers."

"My name is Kessie," the bluebird said firmly, "And what are...?"

"I don't care what your name is. I want to know, where are the Gummi Bears," Igthorne asked her sternly, "I know they came through here, so don't try and lie your way out of this."

"Gummi Bears? I don't know any Gummi Bears. The only bear I know is Win-" Kessie abruptly stepped and clapped her wings over her beak, realizing she'd said too much. "So there is a bear here. Where is he?" Igthorne demanded.

"I...I wouldn't know...and I won't tell someone like you."

"Really?" Igthorne leaned ominously in her face, "I have ways to make little birds talk..."


	2. A Party Crashed

"Something's gone wrong. She should have been here by now!" the large rabbit was mumbling nervously out loud, pacing rapidly in circles around his kitchen floor.

"Now Rabbit, I'm sure Kessie's still on her way," the kangaroo at the table assured him, her joey nodding in agreement.

"She said two thirty on the dot!" Rabbit wasn't placated, gesturing wildly at the clock, "What if she's lost; what if she's hurt; what if...!"

"I don't think there's need to worry, Rabbit. If Kessie was lost, she'd let us know," the bear at the table said out loud. Rabbit gave him a strained look and stumbled into his bedroom, tugging his ears nervously. "I think Rabbit still loves Kessie a little too much, Piglet," the bear told the pig next to him.

"Well, I suppose Christopher Robin would feel the same way about us, Pooh," Piglet supposed, glancing around the room, "It's just too bad he had to be at skull, or whatever it is, and couldn't join the festivities," he looked up at the wall, which was emblazoned with a banner reading WELKUM HOM, KESSIE.

"Five minutes late!" a wild-eyed Rabbit stumbled back out of the bedroom, "It's got to be catastrophic! I've got to go out and look for her!"

"Not that I have any experience in these things, Rabbit, but five minutes doesn't seem like much cause for alarm," mumbled the donkey in the corner.

"Unless of course a hawk or jagular got her," quipped the tiger next to him.

"TIGGER!" Rabbit screeched at him, "Jagulars in the woods-got to go save her!" he grabbed for a lantern on the shelf.

"Rabbit, Rabbit," Kanga hopped over to him and put the lantern back on the shelf, "Now it's only natural to worry about our children. Since you raised Kessie all those years, it's only natural-I felt the same about Roo for a while," she gestured at her son, "But sooner or later you're going to have to trust they can handle it themselves. I'm sure she just overslept this morning or something like that."

"But she promised two thirty!" Rabbit waved at the clock again, "I've waited so long to see her again-I can't take the suspense and excitement much longer!"

"Actually, a little bit of suspense and excitement'll do good around here; the Hundred Acre Wood's been too boring since Christopher Robin went to skull," Tigger grumbled, "I'll take anything exciting to get the blood flowing in these parts again..."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Rabbit's tree gave a sudden lurch and went flying, oblivious to the cries of its inhabitants. It landed hard on the ground with a loud crash, sending everyone tumbling into the corner and the furniture tumbling over. "Were you planning on moving, Rabbit? Because if you weren't, it appears you did, anyway," Pooh pointed out.

"Of course not, Pooh! What in the world happened!?" Rabbit groaned, hauling himself back to his feet.

"Ah yes, this reminds me of the time Uncle Cyril decided to fly a boomerang south for the winter," the owl that had landed next to him declared, "He thought that if he just got a strong enough throw, the wind would do the rest. Of course, he couldn't foresee that..."

He stopped as the floor underneath his talons started bending upwards. "What's going on up here!?" a gopher demanded, popping out of the large hole now in the floor, "The roof's been ripped out of half my tunnels in the last half hour! If somebody ordered an earthquake, they overpaid!"

"Gopher, you can't order earthquakes, and we don't know what's going...!" Rabbit started to retort at him.

"Everyone, look!" Piglet cried from the window, "There's a whole group of terrible...things out there!"

"Gasp, and double gasp!" Tigger exclaimed in terror, "It must be the invasion of the Whatchamadingles!"

"No, they're not Watchamadingles, but they are certainly nothing I've ever seen in the Hundred Acre Wood before," Owl squinted through the glass. A whole troop of ogres was standing over the gaping hole where Rabbit's tree had once been anchors, along with Igthorne. "What have we down here?" the duke was staring down into the hole.

"Look like barrels of some sort, mighty Dukey," Toadwart hopped down the hole, and reappeared with one in hand. Igthorne snatched it off him. "Gunpowder!" he exclaimed happily, "I've heard a lot about this! They say this is the future of warfare! Yes, we hit the jackpot, men; whatever plan we do come up with, Dunwyn's walls won't stand a chance against the power of the future!"

"Hey, wait a minute there, sonny!" furious, Gopher threw Rabbit's front door open and stormed over, despite Piglet waving his arms at him not to. "That's my personal store of explosives, for digging out new tunnels, and it certainly doesn't belong to you, whoever you are!" he scolded the duke.

"Duke Sigmund Igthorne, future king of Dunwyn, and what have we here?" Igthorne grabbed hold of Gopher and lifted him up.

"Gopher's the name, and you'd better put me down now, if you know what's good for you!" Gopher warned him.

"And you'd better fix my house too!" Rabbit stormed over to Igthorne as well, "Do you have any idea how long it took me to build...?"

His eyes suddenly locked on to something behind Igthorne. "Kessie!" he shrieked, seeing the bluebird he'd raised locked in a birdcage being held by another ogre. He desperately rushed over. "Kessie, what have these...these...animals done to you!?" he gasped, gasping hold of the bars.

"He tried to get me to say where Pooh was, but I wouldn't. I'm all right, Rabbit..." a calm-looking Kessie tried to tell him.

"You!" enraged, Rabbit stomped back up to Igthorne, "Let my Kessie go, right now!"

"Sorry, but I'm in charge here now, wherever here is, so all complaints must be filed in that box during business hours," Igthorne nonchalantly pointed to one that had been nailed to a nearby tree.

"I'm warning you, Duke Iguana, unlock her from that cage now, or I'll...I'lll..." Rabbit froze up, trying to think, "Well, I'll come up with something terrible to do to you; just let her go!"

"Actually, I have a better idea of what to do," Igthorne lazily snapped his fingers. Two large ogres grabbed Rabbit from behind, wound up, and pitched him high over the treetops with a loud scream. "Anyone else with a complaint!?" Igthorne turned towards Rabbit's friends, clustered by what was left of his front door, watching, "Because if..."

His eyes zeroed in on Pooh, watching everything unfold with a befuddled expression. "There's what I want!" he exclaimed, "Get that bear, men!"

"Me?" Pooh frowned, but he was seized by several ogres and dragged forward toward the duke. "All right, bear, where are the other Great Gummies that came in here!?" he demanded.

"Gummis? I don't happen to know anyone named Gummis?" Pooh frowned.

"Don't play games with me, bear!" Igthorne tossed Gopher to the ground so he could grab Pooh by the shirt, "I know a Gummi bear when I see one!"

"But I'm not a Gummi bear; I'm a Bear with Very Little Brains-I think," Pooh frowned.

"We can all vouch for that," Eeyore chimed in by what was left of Rabbit's house.

"Stupid Gummis are as good as any! So I want to know where your magical secrets and weapons are, and if I don't hear any answers, it won't be pretty!" Igthorne drew his sword and held it menacingly in front of Pooh's face.

"Please sir, don't hurt him!" Piglet rushed forward, waving his arms, "He's my very best friend in the whole world! And Christopher Robin won't like it either! If he comes back and finds Pooh's been...!"

"Who Christopher Robin?" a nearby ogre asked with a confused expression.

"Well whoever he is, he doesn't stand a chance against me, if he'd dare to show up. Get that pig, men!" Igthorne ordered his ogres. The one nearby to Piglet drew a spear and hurled it at him. With a yelp, Piglet ducked, and the spear sailed over him, puncturing a large bag on Igthorne's supply wagon. The air was suddenly filled with nauseating green gas. "You idiot, not the swamp gas!" Igthorne yelled, coughing and covering his face. Pooh quickly squirmed out of his grasp, covering his own mouth to avoid breathing the toxic concoction, which was as thick as fog now. He suddenly felt a talon on his arm. "I believe, Pooh, now is the time to beat a hasty retreat, while the enemy cannot see," Owl told him. Pooh quickly jumped on Owl's back and was flown at low level after the other Hundred Acre Wood residents, who were fleeing the seen as well. "Look, there's Bunny Boy," Tigger, near the front of the pack, pointed to one of Gopher's nearby holes, out of which Rabbit's rump and kicking legs were protruding.

"He's got the right idea; time for us to start an underground movement here. Unblock that hole!" Gopher commanded him. With an excited, "Hoo hoo hoo HOOOOO!" Tigger bounced high in the air and landed hard on Rabbit's rump,, sending him falling with a scream to the floor of the tunnel. "In, in!" Gopher waved everyone in, hearing the thundering of the ogres' feet behind them. He grabbed a large rock before leaping in himself and pulled it over the hole. "Quiet, everyone!" he hissed at the other animals. They huddled together at the bottom of the hole and listened as the ogres came to a stop directly overhead. "Where they go!?" one asked out loud.

"Don't tell me you dolts lost that bear and his friends already!?" an enraged Igthorne had arrived on the scene as well.

"OK, we won't, then," Toadwart offered. Igthorne yelled in fury. ""You men, spread out and get me that bear!" he ordered several of the ogres, "The rest of you, help me excavate the rest of that cavern! That gopher may have even more of what we need to blast Dunwyn to dust!"

"Begging your dukiness's attention, him have this on wall of tunnel," Toadwart could be heard passing a piece of paper to his boss. Gopher slapped his hand to his face. "Not the designs for the rocket I was building for Christopher Robin's birthday!" he groaned softly, "If he figures out how to use that..."

"Aha!" Igthorne apparently already had, "Wherever we are, Toadwart, they're advanced enough to use flying projectiles! If we build this and stuff this with gunpowder, there'll be nothing standing in Dunwyn if I use it! Yes, this will be my ultimate weapon of revenge! All of you, consult these blueprints and start building this thing-no, a whole fleet of these things!"

Cheering in delight, the ogres could be heard moving away from the covered hole. "Oh d-d-d-dear," Piglet mumbled fearfully once they had left, "Whoever they are, they must really want to hurt everyone in this Dunwyn place!"

"And what do they want with Pooh so badly?" Roo glanced at the Pooh, who looked just as befuddled, "And what kind of bear is a Gummi bear?"

"I don't know, dear," Kanga put a hand on his shoulder, "But if they do mean to harm people, well, we really ought to do something about it."

"But what can we do?" Piglet pointed out with a worried expression, "They're big, strong monsters, and we're all Very Small Animals next to them..."

"No, Kanga's right," Rabbit had finally gotten to his feet, a determined look on his face, "If he's planning a war against this Dunwell place, it may just be up to us to stop them-and make sure Pooh doesn't get caught in the process. And of course rescue Kessie as well."

"You said it, Long Ears!" Tigger proclaimed excitedly, giving Rabbit a too-hard pat on the back that almost bowled him over, "Finally, a real adventure-going on them is what Tiggers do best after all, hoo hoo hoo HOOOO!"

"So if we're going to save the day, what's our first move?" an unconvinced Eeyore asked.

"Easy, Eeyore, we...I mean to say, we..." Rabbit stopped, confusion on his face, "Um, first, let's check out what they've got with them here..."


	3. Mission to Dunwyn

"What do you see, Gopher?" Pooh asked him, looking up towards the top of the new hole to the surface Gopher had dug opposite Igthorne's encampment.

"Looks like they're all asleep now," Gopher declared, "So if we make our move, it should probably be...NOOOOOOOOOOWWWW!"

He lost his grip and fell. Rabbit caught him in midair. "All right then," he turned to everyone else after depositing Gopher back on the tunnel floor, "We're going to split responsibilities here. Some of us should go to warn this Dumbwin place they're in danger, the rest should try and sabotage Rosethorne's operations. Now since I'm a natural leader here and not fit to be put in danger, I'll go find this kingdom of theirs..."

"Can I go with you, Long Ears, please, please, please!?" Tigger begged him, leaning right in his face. Rabbit pushed him aside. "I feel the best way to decide who goes where is to draw straws," he took one of Gopher's brooms from the wall, "The four longest straws with go with me. Any questions?"

"Yes, Rabbit," Pooh raised his hand, "Could we find a way other than drawing straws? I can't draw."

Rabbit howled in frustration. "Why, why, why do I even try!?" he groaned, slamming his head off the tunnel wall.

"I don't know, Rabbit, why do you?" Pooh asked, prompting another aggravated howl from Rabbit. "Well, anyway, let's draw the straws and get it over with," Gopher interceded, picking up the broom from the floor.

"Indeed," Rabbit recovered himself and took it off him. "All right, draw."

The animals all drew straws. "All right," Rabbit looked them over, "It looks like I will be joined by...Pooh...Eeyore...Piglet, and..." he let out a resigned sigh, "...and Tigger."

"Thank you, Bunny Boy!" Tigger gave him an over the top hug, "This is what I always wanted to do, going on a big quest outside the Hundred Acre Wood, fighting the forces of rottenness and not-niceness! Hold on; I've got to go pack!"

He dashed down the tunnel at warp speed. A mere five seconds later, he was back, carrying a massively overstuffed backpack. "Sorry I was late, but the ford was flooded," he explained.

"Tigger, you are not taking all this stuff with us!" Rabbit demanded, "I can't risk...!"

"Shhhh!" Piglet hissed. For footsteps could be heard stomping overhead. Fortunately, however, they soon moved away. "OK," Rabbit lowered his voice, "We're going out there. The rest of you," he turned to Kanga, Roo, Owl, and Gopher, "Cover us. Hold them off until we get away."

"Problem, if I may," Eeyore spoke up, "We don't even know how to get to Dunwyn, wherever it is."

"Not to worry, Eeyore, I think I know who will. But we need to keep quiet..."

* * *

"Kessie," Rabbit tapped softly on his ward's birdcage a few minutes later. Kessie opened her eyes and start to gasp. Rabbit quickly put his finger to his lips. "Kessie, these...gentlemen have made clear they want to take over somewhere," he whispered, waving Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore close, "We're going to warn them after we break you out of here. But we need to know, did you happen to see how they arrived here in the Hundred Acre Wood?"

"Yes, Rabbit, I did," Kessie nodded, "They came out of some magic hole over there, under the bridge nearby. "A magic portal under the Poohsticks Bridge?" Piglet frowned, "How come we never knew it was there before?"

"Never mind. Did you see how they opened it?" Rabbit grilled Kessie.

"No, but I saw Duke Igthorne holding up his medallion and claiming how it gave him the power to escape King Gregor, whoever that is," the bluebird explained, "In fact, he's got a whole box of them under the table there," she pointed towards it as well, "I think the paper with the magic spell to open the gateway to Dunwyn's next to it."

"Wonderful. Eeyore, get five medallions, but quietly," Rabbit ordered the donkey, pointing out the hordes of ogres all around them, sound asleep, "Pooh, give me the lock pick; let's get Kessie out of here."

"The lock pick, Rabbit? I believe I left that at your house, before it moved," Pooh explained. Rabbit slapped both hands to his face in aggravation. "All right, um..." he scanned the area, "Get me that hammer and a cloth to muffle the sound," he pointed to one laying on a nearby table, "We'll break the lock that way."

"Here's some medallions," Eeyore had returned with a mouthful of them.

"Good. Go into the stream with them; we'll get that portal open in a moment-hopefully as quietly as possible," Rabbit gestured for him to go, then flashed a quick thumbs-up to everyone else at the edge of the wood, watching them, "Now all we need to do is find..."

"HONEY!" came Pooh's excited cry. Rabbit spun to see the bear grasping for one at the bottom of a whole stack of pots. "Pooh, no...!" he hissed in terror, but it was too late; Pooh yanked the honey pot away, sending all the others crashing loudly to the ground. Almost in unison, dozens of ogre heads shot up from the ground. "What that sound?" one asked sleepily.

"Oh bother..." Pooh gulped, placing the pot back on the table. "There bear!" another ogre exclaimed, "Get him for Dukey!"

The ogres all lumber forward in unison. "OH D-D-D-DEAR!" Piglet shrieked at the oncoming horde, "Now what do we do!?"

"Open the portal A.S.P.C.A.! Let's go, Long Ears!" Tigger grabbed Rabbit's arm.

"No, not until I get Kessie out!" Rabbit insisted, grabbing hold of the birdcage with the other arm.

"Rabbit, I'll be OK; go save Dunwyn!" Kessie urged him to go.

"No, Rabbie won't leave you like this!" Rabbit cried, squeezing the cage tighter when Tigger tried to pull him away, "I won't let anything happen to you...!"

"Mighty Toadie get big bunny rabbit!" Toadwart leaped forward grabbing for Rabbit. He impacted with his chest instead, forcing Rabbit to let go of the birdcage the hard way and sending him tumbling into the creek under the Poohsticks Bridge. "Here, Pooh," Eeyore tossed the bear the scroll, "Open it up."

"Too late!" Piglet gasped, as the ogres were almost on top of them...

...but they abruptly turned as explosions rang out at the rear of the camp. "Good old Gopher, his distraction's working great," Tigger declared, grabbed a medallion and slipping it over Pooh's neck, "You heard him, Pooh Boy, read away!"

"Um... _Undrite Acrite Oodrite_?" Pooh pronounced confusedly. The medallion started glowing, which preceded a bright flash of light in front of them. "It worked?" he was amazed.

"Get that bear!" Igthorne's enraged voice rang out. The duke was rushing up the stream towards them, his arms outstretched for Pooh. "Here we go!" Tigger shoved all four of his companions through the circle of light, then leaped through seconds before Igthorne could grab him-and right before the portal zipped closed. The five animals landed with a thud on a stone floor. "You fools! Now I've left Kessie in that maniac's clutches!" Rabbit shrieked at them, "Who knows what he's going to do...!"

"Halt, identify yourselves!" came a sharp bark behind them. Three knights had surrounded them, swords drawn. "Um, Winnie the Pooh?" Pooh said nervously, raising his hands, "Is this Dunwyn? Duke Ignominious wants to attack it."

"Aha, so Igthorne's reduced to sending idiot animals to try and do his dirty work," a bearded knight snickered. "Get the irons ready," he told his colleagues, "They can spend time in the dungeon."

"No, wait, we're on your side!" Rabbit protested.

"That's what they all say," the bearded knight advanced towards him, "We won't be fooled by Duke Igthorne anymore. King Gregor will be glad to know another Igthorne plot got thwarted before it even started."

* * *

"You nimrods! You overgrown buffoons!" Igthorne berated his ogres back in the Hundred Acre Wood, "How could you let that bear and his friends escape?"

"Uh...them too smart for us?" a yellow ogre guessed.

"You can say that fifty times over!" the duke roared, "Especially since you let them take every last medallion we had left!" he thrust the now fully empty box in the ogre's face, "If they get to Gregor and warn him of this, heads will roll here!"

He took a deep calming breath. "But at least it wasn't a total loss. At least now we have some slaves to do our work for us," he grinned, trudging towards Gopher, Owl, Kanga, and Roo, who were behind held at spear point by a dozen ogres, "Since you know all about the modern technology in place here, I have jobs for you all. You're going to build at least a half dozen of these for me," he thrust Gopher's rocket blueprints in their faces, "My fleet of flying projectiles that will reduce Dunwyn to rubble. Of course, you won't have anything to eat, but maybe, just maybe, I'll let you go when they're done."

"And if we refuse to build them for you?" Gopher folded his arms defiantly across his chest.

"Then gopher and friends take really hot one way bath," Toadwart pointed to a pot of boiling oil being carried forward by two more ogres. Gopher sighed in frustration. "All right, but know that I'm not going to like it," he growled at Igthorne.

"Good. And you can get started building it right now," Igthorne drew a whip, "On the double, slaves; get to work!"

* * *

"This has to be the sorriest rescue mission ever attempted by anyone," Rabbit grumbled from the back of the locked wagon that was transporting he and his friends down a forest lane.

"Well we're going to Dunwyn, aren't we?" Eeyore inquired, "Isn't that what we wanted?"

"Not like this!" Rabbit gestured around the wagon, "And the worst part is, I don't know who to blame for this!"

"Well cheer up, Long Ears, at least it can't get any worse than this," Tigger tried to reassure him. As earlier in the day, however, no sooner were the words out of his mouth than there came the rustling of bushes and neighing of horses from the path ahead. "Freeze, this is a holdup!" shouted a stern voice.

"Tigger...!" Rabbit shot him an aggravated look.

"Well, they're not after us," Tigger rationalized. Again, it was at that moment the rear door of the wagon was broken open. "Hey, there's no gold in here!" grumbled a masked man.

"What's this!?" another masked man came over to look, "What are these things?" he squinted at Pooh and his friends.

"Uh, Winnie the Pooh, looking to save Dunwyn?" Pooh said again.

"Bring them out," the leading bandit told his colleague, "They're of no use to us, so," he jammed an arrow into his crossbow, "I know just what we can do with them..."


	4. Pooh in Gummi Glen

But suddenly, without warning, an orange blur landed on his head from above, making him groan and fire the arrow harmlessly upwards. "Hey, what the...!?" the bandit next to him turned, only to be himself nailed with a pink blur. "What's going on here?" confused, Rabbit pushed his way forward to the front of the wagon, "Who's...?"

"Hold still, whatever you are!" another bandit was chasing a purple bouncing blur. He reared back with his club for a mighty blow, but missed and instead walloped a fourth bandit chasing a bouncing brown blur in the other direction. Growling, the fourth bandit swung his own club at the third. A loud cry rang out, and a fifth bandit staggered into sight, bound from head to toe in ropes. "That'll teach you guys to hold up a royal wagon in this glen!" came a shout from around the wagon, "Let's make tracks, everyone!"

"Oh my," Piglet exclaimed, staring around Rabbit at the sextet of blurs bouncing away into the bushes, "They look like...bears. Do you suppose these are the Gummi bears Duke Igthorne mentioned, Pooh?" he looked up at his friend.

"I don't know, Piglet," Pooh frowned after the disappearing bears, "I don't know what makes a bear Gummi, or not."

"Well let's find out; hey you guys, wait up!" Tigger bounced out of the wagon, zipping right past the stunned guards before they could stagger around to close the back door again. "That's our cue; after him!" Rabbit hopped past the men. Everyone else followed. The knights watched them go. "Shouldn't we go after them?" one mumbled softly.

"Why?" the other mumbled back, his eyes wide, "If we say what we think we just saw, no one's going to believe us."

"Well, we have to make an official report to King Gregor..."

"I'm not telling him we thought we saw Gummi Bears! You tell him!"

"No, you do it!"

Meanwhile, Tigger bounced rapidly through the bushes after the retreating bears. "Hey, come back!" he called jovially, "Anybody who bounces like you guys is a friend of T-I-Double Gah-Er, me! No need to be frightened," he noticed the bears looking back at him, their eyes widening, and bouncing harder away from him, "Old Tigger just wants to be friendly-like. Hoo hoo hoo HOOOOO!"

He put on an extra burst of speed, right as the bears reached a large tree and started disappearing down a hole into it. With one final, powerful bounce, he landed on top of the blue one at the end, bowling him over and sending the both of them tumbling down a large chute. They landed in a heap on a floor. "Wow, that was a great ride! I wanna go up and do it again. Can we?" the tiger asked out loud.

"Stay back!" looking panicked, the blue bear scurried out from under him, "Who are you!? What are you!?"

"Tigger's the name; that's T-I-Double Gah-Er. And I'm the only one, too. Are you guys Gummi bears?" he zeroed in on all six bears, clustered together worriedly in the middle of the room, "If so, that was some of the best bouncing I've ever seen! You'll have to teach me some for extra pointers, you know."

"All right, whatever you are, this is your notice to pack up and go!" the brown bear in the front of the cluster stomped forward with a glare, "And remember, you didn't see anything here when you...what's that sound?"

Cries could be heard coming down the chute. "Oh that's just Pooh and everybody else. Here, you can meet them face to face," Tigger merrily bounced aside. Moments later, Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, and Eeyore shot out of the hole in the wall and bowled the brown bear over, with a loud "OOOOONNNK!" from an aggrieved Eeyore. "Why'd I just know the bottom would be a hard landing place?" the donkey mused out loud.

"Grab them, Gummis!" came the brown bear's order. Pooh and his friends were quickly piled on by all six bears. "Wait, we're on your side!" Rabbit protested, "If you're Gummi bears, we need to know a few things...!"

"How'd you know about Gummi bears?" the small pink bear tugging on Eeyore's ear demanded, "Where could you have come from to know...?"

"Does the name Duke Igthorne ring a bell for all of you?" Eeyore asked, making the bears stop their assault with stunned expressions, "Not that anyone probably cares anyway, but the guy magically entered our wood, started tearing it all up, and saying he was going to attack this place called Dunwyn, which I'm guessing this is."

"Igthorne!?" the orange female bear trying to strangle Rabbit released him and stepped back in surprise, "Even after being driven out of the kingdom, he still won't give up...!"

"So ARE you these Gummi bears he's so upset with!?" Rabbit demanded, looking impatient.

"Actually, we are," the orange bear dusted off Rabbit's shoulders, "But you'll have to promise never to tell anyone we're here if we tell you anything more."

"Why?"

"It's a long stad sory...I mean, sad story," related the purple bear with glasses, "Follow me, and we can show you everything," he gestured the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood towards a side room.

"Hold it, wait a minute, Zummi," the brown bear grabbed him by the arm, "We can't just accept the story of anyone who bounces in here at face value. Let's not forget these guys were inside a royal prison transport wagon when we stopped that robbery. How do we know for sure they're being on the level with us? Opening the Great Book of Gummi to strangers would be dangerous."

"Oh come, Gruffi, they said Duke Igthorne's wrecking their home; I think we can trust them," the pink bear counter-argued, "And look," he pointed at Pooh, who glanced backwards, as if believing it was something behind himself that was being highlighted, "They have a bear with them too."

"Are you a Gummi bear too?" the small yellow bear of the group approached him in awe.

"No, not that I'm aware of. I'm Winnie the Pooh, and I'm a Bear of Very Little Brains. At least, that's what Christopher Robin tells me," Pooh explained.

"Isn't that the truth, too," Eeyore mumbled softly.

"Who's Christopher Robin?" Gruffi asked suspiciously.

"He's our best friend in all the Hundred Acre Wood," Piglet told him, "He's off at skull, or something, now, otherwise he could have been caught up in what that terrible Duke Igthorne's doing to the Hundred Acre Wood."

"So you said Duke Igthorne came through a magical portal into this Hundred Acre Wood of yours?" the orange bear inquired with raised eyebrows.

"Yes. It appears he used one of these," Pooh held up the Gummi medallion still hanging around his neck, "We took every one we had to get here."

"I see. Gruffi," the orange bear waved the brown one close, "Legend holds that some of the Great Gummis used the magic of their medallions to escape into other worlds after the humans hunted them down," she whispered in his ear, loud enough, though, for Pooh and everyone to hear, "Maybe Igthorne's exploiting this to plot against Dunwyn in peace and quiet...and maybe that means this bear," she pointed at Pooh, who again glanced backwards in comfusion, "Is a descendant of them."

"Well, if he is, the Great Book of Gummi can confirm it. Looking at the guy, though, I'm not terribly impressed," Gruffi frowned Pooh down. "Well, since you ARE all here, and your journey seems to be legitimate, welcome to Gummi Glen. I'm Gruffi Gummi," he extended his hand towards Pooh.

"Pleased to meet ya, Gruff; I'm Tigger, that's T-I-Double Gah-Er, and I'm the only one, too, hoo hoo hoo HOOOOOO!" Tigger bounced in front of Pooh and gave Gruffi's hand an overly vigorous pumping, "And ya gotta show me how you guys bounce as well as you do; bouncing's what Tiggers do best!"

"That and ten thousand other things," Eeyore mumbled softly. "Eeyore's the name; don't bother to get excited over me, since no one else does," he told Gruffi, "That's Rabbit and Piglet," he gestured back at them.

"Pleasure to meet you all. I'm Grammi Gummi," the orange bear shook Pooh's hand, "And over there's Zummi, Tummi, Sunni, and Cubbi," she introduced the purple, blue, yellow, and pink bears in turn.

"And I'm going to be the greatest Gummi knight of them all. Stand down, villain!" Cubbi drew a wooden sword and charged at Piglet. "Oh d-d-d-dear!" Piglet shrieked in terror, taking off running with Cubbi hot on his heels. "Well, anyway, let's see what we can find out from the Great Book of Gummi. This way, please," Zummi gestured them towards the earlier highlighted room again.

"Before we begin, it has been a long trip for us, so could we have a small smackerel of something? Namely, honey?" Pooh inquired with large eyes.

"Pooh, we are on a vital mission; your tummy can wait!" Rabbit barked at him.

"You think the same way I do," Tummi patted Pooh's shoulder with a big grin, "We'll get along great here. Anyway, here is the Great Book of Gummi," he pointed at the very large book sitting on a table in the middle of the room, "It holds all the legends and secrets of the Great Gummis. Zummi?"

"Come here, Pooh," Zummi waved him forward, "Place your hand on the book and vow that everything you say is true and just, and that you follow the Gummi Way."

"Well...Pooh bears usually follow the way their tummies lead, but, all right, I shall," Pooh offered, placing his hand on the book. Immediately, the medallion around Zummi's neck started glowing, and the book sprung open. "The book confirms your honesty, Pooh," Zummi declared, "You are on the level."

"THAT'S an on the level answer?" Gruffi still wasn't convinced, "I can't believe the Great Book's going to just take that."

"Well, I guess it's close enough, Gruffi. Here," Zummi turned the pages of the book, "Here's the story of the Gummis, which," he glanced at Pooh, "May have a new chapter to write."

"Does that do magic-ly things!? Teach me some tricks, please, please, please!?" Tigger begged, taking hold of Zummi's medallion. Zummi gently took it back off him and pointed at the pages of the book. "Long ago in this land," he began, pointing at the text, "Gummi bears and humans lived side by side, in peace and harmony. But then, the humans grew jealous of the Gummis' learnedness in magic, and covetous of their secrets. They started attacking the Great Gummis, trying to steal what they could. Soon, it reached the point of open warfare, so the Great Gummis decided to leave rather than fight. So they fled across the sea to safety. But a small band stayed behind to await the time when it would be safe for the Great Gummis to return."

"And we're their descendants," Sunni tugged at Pooh's arm, "And maybe you are too."

Rabbit stifled a snicker under his breath. "So, why don't you just show yourselves? I mean, after all this time, attitudes might have changed?" he asked the bears.

"The Gummi Way is, don't take chances. Some humans will never learn," Gruffi shook his head.

"But fortunately, we know a few who do, so there's always hope. Take that!" Cubbi, still chasing Piglet, thrust his sword into the pig's rear end. Piglet yelped and scrambled to the top of Rabbit's head for safety. "So, all this time, you've been hiding out here, all alone?" he asked the bears, looking saddened at such a fate.

"It's not too bad. Besides, most people think Gummi bears are myths these days, so we're good and safe as long as we're careful. Now can we cook them a big welcome dinner?" Tummi asked Grammi with pleading eyes.

"Never mind that, let me try some magic-ly stuff!" Tigger abruptly snatched away Zummi's medallion and slipped it over his own head. "Hey, give that back!" the purple bear demanded.

"I wish for...a banana split and a pogo stick!" Tigger shouted out loud. Sure enough, these very object now materialized in his hands. "It works, it works, it works!" the tiger started bouncing around in delight, "So therefore, I wish for a hundred banana splits and pogo sticks too!"

The room was suddenly filled with banana splits and pogo sticks. "Tigger, don't! Remember what happened in Wishland!?" Piglet protested.

But Tigger was too caught up in his glee to hear. "I wish for a bouncing ball and jumping jacks, and eleventy things going clickety-clack!" he all but sang in delight, bouncing out of the Gummis' desperate grasp as his wished-for objects started magically appearing, "And a telephone and an ice cream cone, a kitchen sink and a lemony drink! Submarines and lima beans, and...lima beans!? Yuck, how'd they get in there? Oh well, cancel the lima beans, and get me a ball of string, and a diamond ring...!"

"Tigger, please, stop! We're running out of room here!" Pooh protested. Indeed, the room was now practically filled to the ceiling with magical items. But Tigger continued bouncing out of everyone's reach along the top of the pile, still wishing away: "...a billy goat, and a boat that won't float, a trap for a mouse, and an apartment house! A rocket ship, and a potato chip, an umbrella for rain, and a jet-powered train, hoo hoo hoo HOOOOOO!"

* * *

"Your attention, if you please," the French-accented director called loudly up the steps of Dunwyn Castle, "Ze rehearsal for ze seven hundredth anniversary celebration, she will now begin. Will ze trumpeters sound ze ovature?"

The royal trumpeters on the ramparts blew out a celebratory overture. "First, ze standard bearers descend," the director waved the men carrying banners down the stairs into the city square, "...and now, ze merchants...ze castle cooking staff...ze butlers un ze maids of honor...ze court jesters...ze former knights of ze kingdom...ze royal pages and squires...ze...watch it!"

One of the pages abruptly tumbled head over heels down the stairs, crashing into the back row of former knights and sending them falling down. "No, no no!" the director bellowed in rage. He hauled the boy to his feet. "With grace, you little incompetent, not slapstique!" he roared in his face.

"Now come here, my good man, my grandson Cavin knows what you want," a white mustached former knight stepped forward with a frown, "This was just a simple glitch, much like the time I got lost in the Shrieking Wood. Are you all right, my boy?" he helped his grandson up.

"I am, Gramps. Unwin...!" Cavin glared up at the larger page that had been walking next to him in the procession, who was now whistling innocently with a fake smile as he finished the descent down the stairs. "Oh, him," the old knight frowned more deeply, "I see the two of you still..."

"Will you resume your post-procession positions, please!?" the director glared at them both. Both Cavin and his grandfather stepped back. "All right, continuing, ze pages and squires descend next," the director continued, framing the stairs with his hands, "And after, ze the knights of Dunwyn, led by the great Sir Tuxford. And as ze confetti flies from ze ramparts, ze Princess Calla...with more grace, your grace!"

"I can hardly move in all this, Mr. Upteight!" the princess complained from the top of the stairs-and indeed, the four layers of formal dresses she was wearing made motion difficult. After no more than four steps, in fact, she tripped over the hem of the outer dress and, like Cavin, tumbled down the stairs, knocking down all the descending knights, Sir Tuxford included. The director bellowed in rage again, slammed his papers to the ground, bent down to the princess's level, and started bellowing in angry French right in her face. "Now calm yourself, Monsiuer Upteight," King Gregor rushed down the stairs himself, "I agree with your wishing to make my daughter look as regal as possible for this celebration, but going into tirades isn't going to make this ceremony go smoothly.

"OOP-TEET! My name is pronounced Jean-Francois OOP-TEET, not UP-TIGHT!" the director protested vehemently, "And ze anniversary, she is less than forty-eight hours away! We need to get it perfect, for Dunwyn's great history! Zis needs to be a celebracion ze people will long remember, your Majestee, but if ze young ones will not do it right, how can it all go right!?"

"It will," Gregor helped his daughter up, "But as I said, yelling and screaming will not..."

"Your Majesty," one of the knights standing guard on the ramparts suddenly called down, "You'd better come take a look at this. Something strange is going on in the woods!"

"Strange? Let me take a look," the king bustled up to the top of the ramparts. "My word!" he exclaimed upon reaching the top. For protruding high over the woods was an ocean liner and a Statue of Liberty, each surrounded by a strange glow. "Sir Tuxford, up here," he called to his head knight, who rushed up himself, "What do you make of this strange phenomena?"

"Hmm," Six Tuxford frowned at the out of place for their time objects, "I don't rightly know, Sire. I've never seen anything like this before. Sir Gawain," he called to Cavin's grandfather, "Have you seen anything like this in your years of knighthood?"

"What?" Sir Gawain squinted at the objects, which were abruptly joined by a giant birthday cake, "No, can't say I have. With your Majesty's permission," he turned to Gregor, "I'd like to personally lead a reconnaissance to see what this is."

"But Gramps, it looks like that's right in the middle of Gum-!" Cavin started to protest, having noticed the objects' location in the woods. He quickly stopped and collected himself to say instead, "I mean, the glen right in the middle of the woods by the castle."

"Yes, it does appear to be," Six Tuxford nodded in agreement, "I'll lead the troops with Sir Gawain, Sire; we'll get to the bottom of this in no time."

"No!" Calla, having joined everyone else-and having realized also where the objects were located-gasped. She gulped when every eye turned in her direction and stammered, "I mean...they don't seem to be causing any harm where they are now; maybe they'll vanish as quickly as they arrived. So I don't think there's any reason to send out all the knights, Father."

"Perhaps it is nothing, my dear, but even with Duke Igthorne gone from the kingdom, I'd prefer to take no chances," Gregor explained to her, "And if it is a threat, we'll take care of it quickly. Go forth, men, and stay strong," he instructed Sir Tuxford and Sir Gawain, who turned as he left and gave Cavin a reassuring wink. Cavin returned it, but nonetheless sides up alongside Calla when the king had turned away and whispered, "Come on, we've got to warn the bears. If the knights find their home, who knows what will happen?"

"I know," she looked worried as well, "Come on, we'll take the quick tunnel. How could they be this careless...?"


	5. Enter the Heffalumps and Woozles

"In the name of all that's sacred by the Great Gummis, somebody get the medallion off that maniac!" a desperate Gruffi groaned, pinned against the roof of the tree's cavern by everything Tigger had wished for, which had now burst the roof and spilled skyward.

"I'll do it, Gruffi," Cubbi pulled a small bottle, took a quick drink of the liquid inside, and then bounced up the stack of objects towards Tigger. He quickly grabbed the medallion off the tiger's neck before he realized it. "Zummi, reverse it, before somebody sees all this stuff!" he called down to the purple bear, tossing him back the medallion.

"I've got the reversal spell right here...I think..." Zummi, practically pinned against the ceiling himself, shuffled quickly through several papers worth of spells, "Or do I? Oh yeah, here it is!" he slipped the medallion back on, " _Frummit, blummit, reversit!"_

Instantly, all the items disappeared into thin air, and the tree magically returned to normal. With loud cries, the Gummis and Pooh and his friends, with nothing holding them up anymore, fell straight to the floor, punctuated with another loud, "OOOOOONKK!" from Eeyore. "Things come and go so quickly around here, it seems," the donkey mused softly to himself.

"Hey, where'd everything go!?" a miffed Tigger looked around for all his "presents," "Couldn't you at least have left me the banana splits and pogo sticks?"

"WHAT...IS...YOUR...PROBLEM!?" an enraged Gruffi roared right in his face, "You practically just announced to half of Dunwyn, if not the whole kingdom, that we're here! If the humans barge in here and steal all our secrets now, it's not going to be pretty for you, mister!"

"Oh come on, nobody saw a thing!" Tigger insisted. It was at that moment, however, that one of the wall panels slid open, and two familiar forms tumbled into the tree. "Calla, Cavin, what are you doing here?" Grammi approached them, concerned.

"What's going on in here, Grammi?" Calla asked her, worried, "Everyone at the castle saw strange things appearing here; a whole detachment of knights is on their way over to check it out!"

"Nobody saw a thing, huh!?" Gruffi shot Tigger a frustration look. "Uh...I was a little off?" was the best Tigger could say.

"They'll be here in probably less than five minutes; we had to take the shortest tunnel possible to warn all of you," a breathless Cavin told the bears, "My grandfather's with them, and he'll do what he can to keep them from finding you, but I don't know if he can hold them off forever. You've got to get out of here!"

"Now wait, now wait, I think I've got another spell in here that'll make the tree invisible to everyone," Zummi rifled through his list of spells.

"Better hurry, Zummi, think I hear the cavalry coming," Tummi glanced worriedly at the roof, where the sound of approaching horse hoofs could be heard getting louder. "Let's see, let's see...here it is. _Furito, gummito, vanishimo_!" Zummi declared...seconds before his head disappeared. "Oops, must have read it wrong," his disembodied voice said sheepishly.

"Well get your head back on your shoulders and do it right!" Gruffi ordered him. Zummi quickly read the spell backwards, causing his head to reappear, took off his glasses, and squinted hard at the parchment. "Ah, c instead of g. _Furito, cummito, vanishimo_!" he proclaimed. There was a flash of light, but when it subsided, nothing seemed different. "Did it work?" Piglet look around, confused.

"Probably not, knowing our luck," Eeyore guessed. Above, the horse's hooves came to a stop. "Strange, I could have sworn I saw all those items coming out of a tree near this very spot," Sir Tuxford sounded confused.

"Well, it appeared whatever was here is gone now," Sir Gawain said confidently, "My best guess is it was merely a passing magician trying out some tricks who got carried away. Either way, nothing to see here now."

"No, I guess not. All right men, back to the castle. We'll tell the king it was a false alarm," Sir Tuxford told the other knights. The thundering of hoofs started up again, then faded away. "That was close," Sunni breathed a sigh of relief.

"Can't believe it actually worked," Eeyore seemed surprised.

"So what happened? I thought all of you were more careful not to be seen?" Calla asked the bears with raised eyebrows.

"It wasn't our fault, sweetheart; this madman grabbed Zummi's medallion and went crazy with it!" Gruffi pointed accusingly at Tigger. "I just wanted to learn some magic-ly things," Tigger said in self-defense. "Say, are you a real princess, per chance?" he bounced up to Calla.

"Yes, I'm Princess Calla of Dunwyn, and this is Cavin," she gestured at the page, "We know the Gummi bears live here; we have for some time, after we promised to keep their secret. But who are you?"

"Let me do the talking, Tigger," Rabbit pushed the tiger aside. "We come from another place, connected with this one up in the mountains to the west of here," he explained to both children, "This tyrannical madman named Duke Igthorne came into our world magically and started tearing it up. He wants to flatten your kingdom, so a few of us came here to warn Dunwyn it was under imminent attack."

"Igthorne!?" both the princess and the page gasped in unison. "But how did he get to your world?" she asked Rabbit, "I mean, my father had said he'd been driven out, but he didn't say exactly how he'd left..."

"He appeared to be using one of these," Pooh held up his own medallion, which he was still wearing, "It seems to be magically inclined, just like that one," he pointed at Zummi's.

"Say, if you were in the western mountains...my grandfather found that very medallion up there when he was younger," Cavin pointed at Zummi's as well, "So you suppose there was a major Gummi settlement up there, and they escaped into another world...?"

"I'm starting to wonder myself, Cavin," Grammi nodded, "By my best memories, the old Gummi settlement of Grizzlia used to be located in the western mountains, and was a big city for Gummi wizards. It was bound to have been attacked by the humans, and if the Great Gummis could have found another safer place to go to inter-dimensionally without having to leave the city, they'd..."

"Excuse me, please, but what about us!?" Rabbit interrupted, looking frustrated, "All of us came to your kingdom to warn it that Duke Igthorne's planning an attack, and to get him out of our world! So any help you might give, please tell us! He's been tearing up the Hundred Acre Wood ever since he got there-not to mention imprisoned poor, innocent Kessie; who knows what he's done to her since then!"

"That's the bluebird Rabbit's raised since she was a baby," Pooh whispered to Calla and Cavin, "He loves her a little too much, see, and..."

"I do not love her too much, Pooh Bear!" Rabbit shouted at him, "I'm just a very concerned Rabbit, that's all! So anyway, please spread the word and get some knights in there to get him out, so we can have our lives back!" he all but begged the humans.

"Well, here's the thing," Cavin took a deep breath, "If the bears haven't told you yet, Gummi bears are considered myths around here anymore, so we won't be believed as much if we say a bunch of talking animals told us there was an attack on Dunwyn imminent from another world. And the king's guarding the place Igthorne got away through heavily, so we probably wouldn't readily believe there'll be a problem."

"But there is a problem; Duke Igthorne's going to be using our friend Gopher's designs to build a whole fleet of rockets. If this is the time of real knights and dragons and everything, you won't stand a chance if he uses them!" Piglet pointed out with a worried look.

"What's a rocket?" Cavin was confused.

"Here's hoping you won't have to know. Any ideas on how to help-not that I'm optimistic you do?" Eeyore asked the Gummi bears.

"Well of course we'll think of something, Eeyore; helping those in need is the Gummi Way. Gummis, huddle!" Zummi waved them all together. "OK, I think we ought to split up here," he told them, "Half of us should go with at least one of Pooh Bear's friends to the place Igthorne came into their world and see if we can stop them on that end before he carries out any attack. Who's volunteering for that?"

"Just so I'm not stuck with him," Gruffi gestured sharply at Tigger, who wasn't paying attention, glancing greedily back towards the Great Book of Gummi in the other room.

"I'll lead," Grammi volunteered, "That way Gruffi can take control on this end. Zummi, you come with me; your magic might be able to help. One more; who's with me?" she asked the three cubs.

"Not me; if the rest of us are watching over Dunwyn's anniversary celebration, I want to be here for the food," Tummi rubbed his stomach eagerly.

"We figured you would, Tummi. I'll go too, Grammi," Sunni raised her hand, "It'll be nice to see another world too. And you'll do the best to tell your father about what's going on while we're out, Calla?" she approached the princess.

"I'll do the best I can, Sunni, but I can't promise anything. And be careful too," Calla gave her a warm hug, "I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you. And after we burned Drekkmore Castle to the ground, Duke Igthorne's bound to be in a bad mood so that he'd harm any Gummi bears he saw."

"If I may, why exactly does Duke Igthorne want your kingdom?" Pooh had to ask, confused, "Isn't there any way to get a kingdom of his own?"

"It doesn't work that way. I don't know the whole story myself, yet," Calla took a deep breath, "What my father's said is that Duke Igthorne once was Dunwyn's greatest knight; he could do anything and everything required of the position as best anyone could. I'm guessing the power of such a high position corrupted him. When I was eight, he attacked the castle with the ogres; it was driven off, and my father banished him, but he's kept trying to destroy our kingdom. Thank goodness the Gummi bears here have been around to stop him a number of times. And say," she was staring at him, "Are you a Gummi bear too?"

"Uh, not that I'm aware of. I'm just a Bear of Very Little Brains," Pooh confessed, looking a little glum now.

"Well anyway, I guess that means Cubbi, Tummi, and I keep watch over Dunwyn Castle and make sure Igthorne doesn't try anything sneaky before his attack with his rockets," Gruffi declared, "Which means," he turned to the resident of the Hundred Acre Wood, "At least one of you should lead us back into the western mountains to show those of us going along where you came in."

"Might as well be me; don't see how I'm going to do much here anyway," Eeyore volunteered, making Gruffi groan in frustration to realize he was stuck with Tigger.

"I'll go along as well too; I promised Kessie I would get her out of there, and I will," Rabbit said firmly.

"OK then, let me cook up enough of a batch of Gummiberry Juice for all of us going," Grammi started towards what was apparently the kitchen.

"What's that?" Piglet asked.

"It's what gives us Gummis the ability to bounce like we do," Cubbi told him grandly.

"And it gives humans super strength," Cavin added.

"Oh boy, if that's the super bouncing stuff, then let me have a try!" Tigger quickly bounced towards the kitchen door. "NO!" all six Gummis blocked him from it. "Il, you guys aren't any fun anymore," the tiger grumbled, skulking back.

"Tigger, forget about bouncing; we have to worry about the Hundred Acre Wood!" Rabbit upbraided him, "Who knows how much longer till Igthorne has his rockets ready!?"

* * *

"Here, here's your rocket, Mr. Duke, just like you asked," a scowling Gopher hammered the last nail into the side of the large wood and iron rocket set up on the banks of the brook, "But don't think this has been any pleasure, because it hasn't," he told Igthorne sternly.

"Thank you for being subservient enough to get the job done in record time. Now you can join the rest of the slaves and watch this successful test of my creation before you help build the rest of my missiles to use against Dunwyn," Igthorne picked Gopher up and hurled him into the large cage that had been constructed to hold the remaining residents of the Hundred Acre Wood. The two purple ogres standing guard outside immediately slammed the door shut and locked it. "And now, let's see what this baby can do. Find a target that's expendable enough to blow up," Igthorne ordered Toadwart next to him.

"Um...how about big tree in distance?" Toadwart pointed to a massive oak visible in a wide clearing further downstream.

"It'll do. Point and aim at that tree!" Igthorne ordered the large green ogres at the rocket's controls, who thus spun several wheels to aim properly at the tree. Inside the cage, Gopher sided up to everyone else. "He may have his rocket, but he doesn't know anything about propulsion-namely that gunpowder doesn't work as rocket fuel like he thinks," he whispered slyly.

"Well then, with that in mind, I suggest we all find a properly safe corner of the present enclosure to protect ourselves from the forthcoming explosion," Owl declared, bustling to the rear corner of the cage, "This will be much like the time Aunt Miranda decided to throw a New Year's Eve party in that nitro glycerin factory. I'm sure she would have decided otherwise if..."

"Shh, Owl, I want to see the evil duke blown up," Roo was still pressed eagerly against the bars of the cage.

"Now Roo, back to safety in momma's pouch," Kanga gently picked him up and deposited him in her pouch, "It'll be a lot safer and just as entertaining there."

"Ready!" Igthorne declared loudly to the ogres at the rear of the rocket, "Aim...light it up!"

"You got it, Dukey!" one of the ogres banged a pair of rocks together over the long fuse until it ignited. The flame quickly started burning towards the massive circle of dynamite at the back of the rocket. "This will be a moment long remembered!" Igthorne declared grandly, joining the ogres at the controls, "I'm going to change the course of history! With the destruction of Dunwyn Castle, my name will be remembered long after...!"

His soliloquy got no further, for the moment the fuse hit the dynamite, the entire rocket exploded on its launcher in a massive fireball, sending wood and iron strips flying everywhere. Heavily charred, a coughing Igthorne stumbled away from it. "What went wrong!?" he shouted out loud, "It wasn't supposed to blow up until after it reached the target!"

"Perhaps we gave it too much gas?" Toadwart suggested. Fuming, Igthorne waved for the guards to open the cage and stormed in. "All right, you little rat, you'd better tell me what went wrong!" he demanded, grabbing Gopher with both hands and lifting him off the ground, "And if you sabotaged this, I'll have my ogres break every bone in your pathetic body!"

"Rat? Do I look like a rat to you!?" Gopher snorted, offended, "And for your information, wise guy, I didn't need to sabotage anything! You were the idiot to think gunpowder worked as rocket fuel."

"Then what does work!?"

"Sorry, you're out of luck. Even if I wanted to tell you, you wouldn't find a proper fuel anywhere here in the Hundred Acre Wood," Gopher folded his arms defiantly across his chest.

"Oh yeah? Well I've got ways to make you talk!" Igthorne abruptly reached over and plucked out one of Owl's tail feathers. "Ouch! I say, that was most uncalled for!" Owl told him sternly, putting both wings on his hips, "How would you feel if someone decided to...!?"

"Oh shut up! You're going to talk, you little rodent, no matter if I have to tickle the information out of you for the next day and a half! I'm coming out!" Igthorne shouted at the guards, carrying Gopher and the feather out of the cage, which was promptly locked again. "Some people just have no sense of respect for a person's person," Owl grumbled, staring forlornly at his tail, "It's clearly a sign of the moral decline of these days when..."

"Shh again, Owl; look!" Roo pointed out of the cage. Unnoticed by Igthorne and the ogres, who were now tickling Gopher unmercifully with the feather, a large orange trunk had suddenly appeared out of a bush by the edge of the camp. It circled around like a lighthouse beacon until it locked in on the pots of honey on the ogres' mess table that Pooh had almost grabbed earlier. It pointed eagerly towards it. Moments later, a large red hat appeared in the top of the bush next to it. "Well, well, looks like we've hit the mother lode," a slick voice remarked. "OK, let's move and get it-but be quick and quiet."

"And hope there's no giant mice out there!" a second voice whimpered nervously. A gray furry arm grabbed the trunk and pulled it back down. Seconds later, a large orange elephant-like creature and gray weasel-like creature slunk along the ground towards the honey pots, unnoticed by the villains. "I know those guys," Roo recognized them with a wry smile. He hopped back out of his mother's pouch and up to the edge of the cage. "Hey guys, you still bent on getting all the honey in the Wood?" he called jovially to them.

"Who's that over...OH NO, THE GIANT MOUSE FROM BEFORE! HELP, SAVE ME, STAN, SAVE ME!" the elephant screeched at the sight of Roo, grabbing the weasel by the collar and choking him frantically in terror. Instantly, the ogres spun around at the cry and quickly surrounded the two creatures, aiming their spears at them. "Dummy!" the weasel growled furiously, slapping the elephant's trunk in frustration.

"Now what's going on!? Who are you two, and what are you doing here!?" Igthorne pushed through the ogres to glare the newcomers down.

"Stan Woozle's the name, if you don't mind, and this is my associate," Stan rolled his eyes at his sidekick, "Heff Heffalump. And all we want is that honey, and we'll be on our way."

"But kill the giant mouse, please!" Heff whimpered, pointing fearfully at Roo in the cage.

"Oh of course I'm going to kill him, don't you worry about that. The question is, should we do the same to you?" Igthorne frowned at him. Stan gulped nervously. "Hey look, mister, whoever you are, we're just ordinary heffalumps and woozles. We're no trouble at all," he stammered, his eyes going wide at the spears inching ever closer to his face, "We'll even work for you if you want it; just don't make us dead heffalumps and woozles!"

"And what would you be able to do for me? Because if you can't be useful, then I might as well just have you finished now anyway."

"Um, uh, um...what are you guys doing here anyway?"

"Us building weapons of mass construction to destroy Dunwyn Castle so Dukey here can be king," an orange ogre declared proudly.

"It's mass DESTRUCTION!" Igthorne corrected him with a glare, "But yes, conquering Dunwyn is what I'm here for."

"Then we'll help you," Stan offered quickly, "Anything you want us to do, we'll do it."

"We will?" Heff asked, confused. A kick to his leg by Stan made him nod and say, "Yeah, yeah, we'll do anything you want, mister."

"Hmm. Maybe you can be useful after all, then," Igthorne looked the heffalump and woozle over, "After all, you sneaked into this camp without being seen. OK, here's my deal," he leaned close to the two would-be honey thieves, "I'm trying to build a rocket fleet to destroy Dunwyn Castle. I want the two of you, after I show you how to enter Dunwyn, to map out the castle, finding me all the weak points where I can aim the rockets at, then bring it back here for me to plan my attack on. And an extra bonus if you bring me back a certain bear that escaped from here; I just know he's got special Gummi bear secrets in his mind that I want to know."

"I think I know who you mean," Stan rubbed his hands together eagerly, "Don't worry, if he's there, Heff and I'll find him."

"And then we get all the honey?" Heff gestured at all the honey on the mess table.

"Fine, fine, you'll get every drop of honey in this forest I can find. And you two get to serve as generals of my ogre army for the regular attack on Dunwyn Castle," Igthorne told them.

"Oh boy, we're going to be important!" Heff clapped his hands together happily, "We gotta tell all the other guys about this, Stan!"

"There others like you in woods?" Toadwart inquired.

"Yeah, heffalumps and woozles are everywhere in the Hundred Acre Wood. We just don't get seen too often."

"Most interesting," Igthorne picked Toadwart up in front of his face. "I know the men are stupid and expendable fodder, but if we can use some mercenaries to get the job done too, might as well," he whispered in the small ogre's ear, "So might as well use them. Gentlemen," he turned back to Stan and Heff, "Tell me where we might find the other elephants and weasels in here, and I'll be glad to train them to be soldiers in my army for the big attack on Dunwyn."

"It's heffalumps and woozles, if you don't mind," Stan frowned, "But yeah, the rest of the boys that ain't got consciences, they'd be glad to help out if we told them there was opportunity here. Now don't go telling anyone, but you can find them..."

He leaning close to Igthorne and whispered in his ear. Inside the cage, Owl was frowning as well. "I don't like the looks of this," he confided in everyone else, "The addition of every heffalump and woozle in the Hundred Acre Wood will instantly make this situation much more serious."

"We've got to warn Pooh that the heffalumps and woozles are after him," Roo added, looking worried.

There was a huffing sound at the side of the cage. "I'll go," Kessie was trying to squeeze through the side of the cage, she being the only one small enough to fit through the bars, "I can get there fastest, and this will prove to Rabbit I can take care of myself. Now if I...can...just...!" she groaned, stuck halfway through the bars.

"Hey, no leaving, birdie!" one of the ogre guards stormed over, readying his spear, "You slave like others; you staying to build rockets...!"

"Speaking of which, my good man," Owl flew over and perched on the bars directly in front of Kessie, "If a rocket takes off from Florida at nine this morning, and lands in Kazakhstan at three thirty Tuesday afternoon," he shot a sideways glance to see Igthorne opening the portal for Stan and Heff, and two other ogres tossing bags of swamp gas through, presumably to knock out any knights stationed on the other side, "how many orbits of the earth will it have made?"

"Gee, I don't know," the guard frowned, confused, "What day launch again?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I'll need an answer...NOW," Owl glanced backwards and declared. Immediately, Kanga wound up with her tail and used it to whack Kessie hard enough to break through the bars. The bluebird rapidly flapped over the heads of the other ogres and zipped through the portal right behind Stan and Heff. "Hey, get back here!" Igthorne grabbed for her, but the portal slid closed again before he could. The duke growled in frustration. "You idiots!" he stormed over to the guards, "If that bluebird ruins the plan, I'll have your necks! You're relieved of guard duty; take them to the rear!" he ordered several ogres standing nearby, who dragged the guards off. "In the meantime, get the slaves back to work!" he waved his hand wildly at the remaining prisoners, "Fuel or no fuel, I want my rockets built now! And keep torturing that rodent!" he shouted at the ogres, "I want to know what will power my fleet safely!"


	6. Pooh at Dunwyn Castle

"Can't I please have just a little taste of the magic juice, please, please, please!" Tigger begged a stern-looking Gruffi, stomping hard up one of the Gummis' tunnels, "A Tigger needs to bounce as much as they can, and since I'm the only one...!"

"And that's grounds enough to say no; Gummiberry juice is meant for use in a major situation to stop the forces of evil," Gruffi told him sternly, "Not for the pleasure of refugees from other worlds who can't stop bouncing."

"But I'll give you everything I've got...!"

"If you've got anything to eat, I'll take that," Tummi offered, "But sorry, we keep the Gummiberry juice."

"It's meant for the best of causes, sorry," Cavin agreed with Tummi. "So," he turned to Pooh, "What have you done in your world? Fought any dragons? Saved any damsels? Rescued any villagers?"

"Uh, no," Pooh admitted, starting to look a little crestfallen, "But I was the king of Chess Land once."

"I was the bish-hop; the best bish-hop you've ever seen," Tigger's expression brightened, "We ought to have another adventure there one of these days."

"I don't know, Tigger; I guess I'll need to fall asleep first, and...oh dear, is this how we're going to get to the king's castle?" Piglet frowned at the bird-shaped car set up on a track before them.

"This is the quick tunnel to the castle; just buckle up tight, and enjoy the ride," Cubbi dragged Piglet into the car and buckled his seatbelt. "Um," Piglet looked very nervous, "I should point out that Very Small Animals like myself don't like wild rides..."

"But Tiggers do, so let's go as fast as we can!" Tigger urged Gruffi at the controls. Rolling his eyes, Gruffi pulled the release lever. The car rocketed down the track at warp speed, to loud cries, both terrified and excited, of the Hundred Acre Wood residents. In about four minutes, it coasted to a stop. "Here we are, Dunwyn Castle," Gruffi announced.

"That was great! Let's go back and do it again; racing at warp speed is what Tiggers do best, after all!" Tigger proclaimed. This prompted a yelp from a pale, nauseated-looking Piglet, who stumbled out of the car and doubled over. "All right, so where do we find the king and warn him?" Pooh asked, climbing out of the car himself.

"Guess we'll just have to look for him, because I don't know; Cavin?" Gruffi turned to the page.

"Can't help you there, Gruffi; I may be close to him, but I don't know King Gregor's daily schedule," Cavin admitted, "I just hope Calla got to him already and at least gave him some hint of what's looming."

"I suggest we check the kitchen first; there's probably a lot to find there," Tummi proposed, rubbing his stomach eagerly.

"Tummi, would you forget your stomach for just...quiet," Gruffi held up his hand and listened to the tunnel to their right. "I think I hear him down this way, come on," he waved everyone down the tunnel.

"I'll be down in a moment; I'll just make sure Piglet's all right," Pooh told him. He bent over his best friend as everyone else scurried off. "You feeling all right now, Piglet?"

"I think so, Pooh," Piglet said, the color slowly returning to his face, "I just hope there's a better way back to the Gummis' tree house after we finish our mission here. What about you, Pooh?" he turned to the bear with a concerned expression of his own, "You've seemed a bit sad lately."

"It's just, Piglet, since we've arrived here, I can't help but feel a little, um...insignificant," Pooh confessed, "Seeing how much all the other bears have done here, all the heroic type things, and then looking inside, like I'm sure humans do too, I don't quite feel that I measure up. Especially if it is true that I am descended from earlier Gummi bears, as might be the case."

"I know about feeling insignificant, Pooh," Piglet nodded knowingly, "So I know how you feel. I guess, if we're lucky, we'll get a chance to show something-I hope."

"But what can we do, Piglet? We're not heroes, we're just Christopher Robin's animals."

"Hopefully, that'll prove important in some way, Pooh; it often does in these stories. Just so we do save the Hundred Acre Wood..."

"Hey, aren't you guys coming? We've got a lock on the king!" came Cubbi's call from up the tunnel. Pooh and Piglet quickly bustled up it until the others came into view, peering through a grating. "Have you tried to tell him yet?" the latter asked loudly.

"Shhhh! Can't now; too many knights in the room. We can't be seen, remember!?" Gruffi hissed at him. He nonetheless moved aside so Pooh and Piglet could have a clearer view through the grate. There were indeed at least half a dozen knights in the room, one of whom was stammering to King Gregor, who was standing with his back to the grate anyway, "...swear it, your Majesty, a group of animals came out through the portal; they basically admitted they were sent by Igthorne! And then they escaped after we were attacked by a band of Gummi bears!"

"Really? A rabbit, a donkey, and a small pig hardly seem to be the type of animals Duke Igthorne would consider useful," the king sounded more amused than anything, "And why would Gummi bears, if they did exist, attack a royal transport wagon when that would be contrary to what the legends say they'd have done in the old days?"

"But Sire, we swear it's all true...!"

"I think you men have been working too hard lately anyway," the king interrupted him, "Why don't you go and man the ramparts for the remainder of this afternoon's festivities? We can find someone fresher to go guard that portal."

"We're not worn down, Sire, we...!"

"Sorry, lads, but that's a royal order," Sir Tuxford cut in himself. Looking miffed, half the knights left the room. "Father, don't you think we should take some extra precautions, just in case?" came Calla's voice from across the room, "If Igthorne is sending something through..."

"Calla my dear, it's quite obvious what's happened; these men simply had a little too much wine when on guard duty and imagined the whole thing," Gregor told her gently, "It must have gotten too boring up there, and they turned to the wine to pass the time."

"But suppose Duke Igthorne did want to try to come back through? I mean, I'm just thinking of what's best for the kingdom..."

"I know, my dear, and that's why you'll make a great queen one day," Gregor put an empathetic arm around his daughter with a smile, "Dunwyn is safe at the moment-although I suppose we could put all the reserve knights on guard duty, just in case. Can it be arranged, Sir Tuxford?" he turned to his head knight.

"I don't rightly know, Sire, but I suppose it could be done," Sir Tuxford guessed, "I'll send word around that..."

The door to the room burst open. "Sir Tuxford," it was Unwin, and he was grinning darkly, "Cavin never showed up to set up the arrows for the contest. Just thought you ought to know."

"Oh no!" Cavin slapped his hand to his face by the tunnel wall, "I totally forgot I was supposed to help everyone get ready for the archery tournament! I've gotta go," he whispered to the bears and Hundred Acre Wood residents with a pale look, "I hope Sir Tuxford doesn't put me back on kitchen duty for this!"

He rushed off down the tunnel. "I don't see what's wrong with that; I would love kitchen duty. Especially if it did involve finding honey," Pooh remarked.

"Same here; I could work in a kitchen all day," Tummi added, "I'd love..."

"Shhh!" Gruffi hissed at him again. He turned back to the grating, where Calla was sighing. "I'll find him, Father," she told the king, "He must have fallen asleep somewhere."

"I don't think so; I think he's slacking off again," Unwin proclaimed smugly. Calla gave him a harsh glare and brushed past him out the room door. "You may go, Unwin; make sure the archers are well stocked with arrows," Sir Tuxford told the elder page, who turned and left. "I can never figure Cavin out many of these days, Sire," he shook his head at the king, "He wants so badly to be a knight, and he's got so much promise and potential, but then you can never find him when you need him."

"It might just be nothing, Sir Tuxford. Let's not jump to conclusions with the boy, like we did when my ruby studs went missing," Gregor told the knight. He exhaled himself and walked over to the window. "Look at it; all of Dunwyn celebrating," he said with a smile, "This celebration will be the greatest one the kingdom's ever had."

"That it will, Sire," Sir Tuxford agreed, "I think when the eight hundredth anniversary rolls around, they'll look back on this one with pride."

"Let's hope so. And Sir Tuxford, I know I said so before, but I want to thank you for exposing Igthorne's treachery to me all those years ago," Gregor grew solemn, "I would never have suspected anything from the man then, which would have been disaster for Dunwyn."

"I could see it coming during my stint as his chief lieutenant, Sire," the knight told him with his own grim expression, "He always drove the men too hard, was too brutal in combat. I knew it for sure when he surrounded that village on the border during our war with Easterwick and ordered me to burn it to the ground. I stamped out my torch and told him I'd never do such a thing, and did everything I could to stop him from incinerating all those innocent people," he lowered his head, guilt on his face, "I did everything I could to save them, I swear..."

"I'm sure you did, Sir Tuxford," King Gregor patted him on the shoulder, "As much fault is mine for not believing you on him until he attacked Dunwyn Castle with the ogres. I hate to take any human life-it's not right for a monarch to hold too much power over life and death-but I'm wondering if I should have ordered his execution after that initial attack. Then Dunwyn may have had peace..."

He shook his head. "But no matter. It's probably over now, as long as we keep him in the other world. And besides," he cocked his head at the sound of church bells ringing, "It's time for the septcentennial archery contest anyway. Seven hundred gold pieces to the best archer in the kingdom. The grand prize is secured down in the treasury still, is it not?"

"It was at last check, Sire."

"Very good. Let us take our seats; it'll be a pleasure to watch Calla serve an official function to reward the winner after the contest. It'll give her good practice for when she's queen. Let's go, men," Gregor told the knights, who followed him and Sir Tuxford out of the room. "Now how do we get in touch with him?" Piglet frowned behind the grate.

"I wish I knew, Piglet," Pooh scratched his head, befuddled, "In fact, I wish I knew anything about anything..."

"Wait, I have an idea," Cubbi's face was brightening, "If they're having an archery contest, one of us could enter, and if we win..."

"So no more, little guy; I'll do it!" Tigger proclaimed with a huge smile, "If that Hooded Robbie guy could enter his archway contest in disguise and win, anybody can do it."

"And what makes you so sure you'll win?" Gruffi raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Easy, Gruff old pal; shooting arrows is what Tiggers do best! Quick Piglet, the hero suit! It's time for the Masked Offender to take the day and win the cake!" Tigger extended a hand towards Piglet. "Um...I think we left your things back in the prison wagon, Tigger," Piglet admitted.

"Oh well, no matter. We'll go find something else to use as a Masked Offender-y type suit. Be back in three shakes of a horse's tail, hoo hoo hoo HOOOOO!" Tigger seized Piglet's wrist and bounced wildly down the tunnel. "This is a major mistake," Gruffi rolled his eyes, "Somebody else needs to do this..."

"Sorry, Gruffi; he's the only one that can pass off as a human at first glance-as long as he keeps his tail out of sight," Tummi pointed out, "So, what do the rest of us do?"

"I don't know. Since that tiger can't be trusted to do anything right, we'll have to find a backup plan to..."

"Oh bother," Pooh suddenly exclaimed, glancing at the window in the room that was visible from the grating. "What was that for?" Cubbi asked him.

"I think I just saw a huffalump and woozle go down past the window. A very familiar heffalump and woozle, who tried to steal all my honey not long ago," Pooh squinted at the now vacant window.

"A what and a what?"

"Let's take a look," Tummi pushed the grating open and rushed to the window. "Well, all I see is an orange elephant and a gray weasel wearing suits of armor sneaking around by the base of the castle, tapping at the walls," he announced.

"You do?" Pooh glanced down himself. "No, that's the heffalump and woozle I saw," he said, recognizing Stan and Heff despite their haphazard disguises, "But what are they doing here?"

"Are they dangerous?" Tummi asked him, concerned.

"Not usually, but they're not really what I'd call friends."

"Then I think we'd better follow then and see what they're up to," the blue bear proposed, "And who knows, if they are after honey," he licked his lips in anticipation of a honey meal, "It'll really be a good idea to..."

"Ta-da! Couldn't recognize me if you tried, could ya!?" Tigger and Piglet had returned, and the former was wearing a mask and red cavalier-style costume that was much too small for him-one that made Cubbi gasp in shock. "Wh-wh-where did you find th-th-that!?" he stammered.

"Was that your room at the end of the hall? It was in the first drawer I checked, and looked disguise-y enough, so I figured, might as well go with it," Tigger explained.

"Cubbi!" Gruffi rounded on the smallest bear with a deep scowl, "I told you to forget those dreams about being the Crimson Avenger! Why is that still in your room!?"

"I, um. uh..." Cubbi mumbled nervously, "I, uh...I was going to, but, um...I kind of forgot..."

"Hey, who's in there?" came a call from outside the door. Gulping, all the animals jumped out the window and grabbed hold of the nearby drainpipe. The door opened. "Nobody in here now," a deep voiced said.

"Strange, I could swear I heard voices..." the first man said, confused. Moments later, the door swung closed, and their footsteps faded away. "That was close...too close," Tummi breathed a sigh of relief, "Well, we'd better get Tigger here to the contest, and get started with finding that hoozle and weffalump, whatever they're called."

"I'll go with Tigger on this," Cubbi said quickly, siding up to the tiger, "I mean...since I am technically a Gummi knight, I can give him the best advice."

"All right, but when this is done, I want that Crimson Avenger suit in the trash where it belongs," Gruffi warned him, "Piglet, you come with me; I have a backup plan, and it's stupid, but it might be our best bet," his gaze had fallen on a mime troop performing in the street below, "Tummi, you and Pooh follow those things he saw. And above all, be inconspicuous."

* * *

"Of course, Duke Igthorne had to choose the highest possible place to jump into the Hundred Acre Wood from," a heavily winded Rabbit gasped, straining to climb up the face of the mountain the ruined Gummi city was located on.

"He must have gotten good intelligence; the ancient Gummi city of Grizzlia stood up here for generations," Grammi told him, "And no need to complain; we're almost at the top," she pointed at the topmost ledge, which was now no more than ten feet above her.

"Um, not to complain, but those things flying overhead don't seem like they're friendly," Eeyore suddenly said out loud. Everyone else's eyes shot upwards-and Sunni immediately gasped. "Oh no, the carpies!" she gasped, jumping behind Zummi, "What are they doing here!?"

"Shh, I think I hear Igthorne," Zummi held up his hand. And indeed, the duke could now be heard above them. The five of them crept up to the next ledge, which had a thick bush on it for protection, and listened in. "...have a propostion for you, oh exalted Carpy King," Igthorne was saying, "I have weapons at my disposal that will reduce Dunwyn Castle to dust, but I would wish to make absolutely sure I succeed this time. So I would like to hire you and your men as my personal air force for the attack; when I give the word, you all swoop down and help me destroy Dunwyn."

"And what's in it for us?" a raspy voice asked, unconvinced.

"You can have everything for a hundred square miles around Carpy Mountain as your own personal kingdom-and, because I know she'd never want me, you can have the princess Calla as your own personal songbird for as long as you see fit to use her," Igthorne proposed, prompting a growl from Sunni at the thought of her friend being treated in such a manner.

"Your reputation for treachery is well known, Duke Igthorne. But I like this idea. Consider me your full partner," the Carpy King cackled, "My men will gather here and await for your signal to attack Dunwyn."

"Excellent. As a token of my goodwill, here are the knights that were guarding the portal," Igthorne told him, as the sound of loud thumps rang out, "You may do whatever you wish to them; they're of no further use."

"Oh dear, oh dear, ogres plus carpies is a disaster for Dunwyn," Zummi gulped, "This may be beyond our capabilities."

"You can't give up; you promised you'd help us free the Hundred Acre Wood and release Kessie!" Rabbit hissed at him, "The problem is," he glanced nervously upwards, "If all those overgrown feather dusters are hanging around up there, how do we get anywhere near the portal?"

He got an abrupt answer to his question as the bush was suddenly grabbed by a powerful set of claws, its occupants included. "Hey, let us go, let us go!" Rabbit protested as they were lifted up into the air by a carpy.

"Well, if you insist..." with a dark snicker, the carpy extended his claw outward over the thousand foot drop to the valley below and started loosening his grip. "No, wait, let me rephrase that...!" Rabbit rambled in terror.

"What have you found?" the Carpy King called up to his circling underling.

"Eavesdroppers, your Highness, and familiar ones, too," the lesser carpy swooped down and dropped his prisoners down at his master's and Igthorne's feet. "Well, it looks like this IS my lucky day," the duke sneered down at the newcomers, "I get a new alliance for my attack, AND some Gummi bears as new prisoners."

"Your plans are bound to fail, Igthorne," Grammi told him defiantly, putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh really, my lady? It so happens my plans have advanced far beyond what I'd initially intended. I now have a multiple plan of attack against Dunwyn-and, conveniently, since I know you know how to make Gummiberry juice, you can help fill in the biggest missing piece," Igthorne leaned menacingly towards her.

"What are you talking about!?"

"Bring them, men," Igthorne gestured at the ogres with him to bring their new prisoners along. _"Undrite Acrite, Oodrite!"_ he held his Gummi medallion in front of the mirror once he'd reached it and stepped back into the Hundred Acre Wood. "Oh my, oh my! What did you do to the Hundred Acre Wood!?" a shocked Rabbit gasped once he was brought through to the other side. For the landscape around him could hardly have been called a wood anymore; most of the trees were gone, and those that were left were being uprooted by swarms of ogres and thrown into a large pile near the Poohsticks Bridge. Other ogres were sawing the trees into long wooden planks, and pounding iron strips to them, in some areas joined by hordes of huffalumps and woozles of every size and color. Most ominously, a half dozen large rockets were taking shape by the bridge, and working on them, overseen by ogres with whips...

"Momma, Rabbit and Eeyore are back," Roo called out, pointing, "Where's everyone else?"

"Where's Kessie!?" Rabbit frantically scanned the group of his friends for the bluebird, to no success. "What have you done to my Kessie!?" he demanded to Igthorne, "If you've harmed one feather on her head...!"

"Crazy rabbit no need overreact; bluebird escape a few hours ago into Dunwyn," Toadwart explained to him, cracking his whip towards Roo to get him working again, "Us to send carpies out to look for her."

"Ah," Rabbit breathed a quick sigh of relief. Then, in a flash, he grabbed Igthorne's Gummi medallion. "Hey!" the duke roared, but Rabbit had already broken loose and rushed back to the stream under the Poohsticks Bridge, where he rambled out the incantation to reopen the portal. "Hold on, Kessie, Rabbie's coming!" he cried at the top of his lungs, jumping back through to Dunwyn before the dozen or so ogres lunging for him could grab him. The portal zipped closed. "No matter, men; the carpies can take care of him. And I have a spare medallion within easy reach," Igthorne snatched off Zummi's medallion and slipped it on. "Put the rest of them to work on my rockets," he ordered the ogres, "Now, as I was saying. my fair Gummi lady," he pulled a scowling Grammi close, "Your Gummiberry juice, given its tremendous punch, might just be what I need to fuel my rockets. The miserable gopher here wouldn't tell me where to find proper fuel, even after I had him tickled for hours on end, so your creations will have to do."

"And if I say no?" Grammi remained defiant.

"Then you might just be the only Gummi bear to go bacvk to Dunwyn in one piece," Igthorne snapped his fingers at the ogres holding Sunni and Zummi. The ogres carried them towards a large pot of boiling oil and lifted them menacingly over it. Grammi's shoulders sagged. "All right, all right, I'll cook you your Gummiberry juice," she grumbled miserably, "But, I'll only cook it up in private; nobody looks in to see what the secret ingredients are."

"Just get me that juice, and no tricks. I want these rockets fueled and ready to go by sunset tonight, when I test one on Dunwyn itself to show Gregor I'm serious. Any failures, and these other bears pay a stiff price. Get moving on that juice, now."


	7. Tigger Hood

"Well, we wouldn't usually encourage last minute entries, Mr...uh, Masked Marvel, but since this is a major event, welcome to the tournament," the man in charge of the sign ins for the archery contest declared, affixing his signature to the official list, "Welcome to the tournament. Here's your bow and arrows, since you were unable to afford any of your own," he handed them to Tigger, who was now also wearing a full length cloak and hood per Cubbi's resquest.

"Much appreciated, sir, and you won't regret letting me in after I win this contest like a piece of pie. Here, faithful squire, my arrows," Tigger handed them off to Cubbi, who groaned under their weight. "No need to get that into it!" he mumbled between his teeth as they walked towards the courtyard where the contest would take place.

"Just playing the part, Cub-a-roonie. So, you're really a superhero-type guy in your spare time?" Tigger bent down and asked eagerly.

"Well, yeah," Cubbi whispered back, glancing around nervously for anyone listening in to them, "I wanted to feel like I was making a difference in the forest, so I became the Crimson Avenger at night. It's been an on and off thing for a few years, and I think of done some good."

"Well if you need any pointers, I'm the Masked Offender back in the Hundred Acre Wood. I've had some experience saving everyone else...although for some reason, they never seemed to appreciate it."

"Well, it hasn't all been positive," Cubbi's face contorted, "I nearly got caught a few times. And I was almost too successful at first; that set up a chain of events that almost landed Cavin in prison for a long time. I'd never have lived with myself if that had happened to him, not after everything he means to me."

"Say, isn't that him over there now?" Tigger pointed to the right. And indeed, behind a concession stand, was a pale-faced Cavin, before a grim Sir Tuxford and leering Unwin. "...swear I just forgot the time, Sir Tuxford!" he was protesting to the knight.

"Sure, for about the sixth time in the last four months," Unwin snickered. "I can handle the targets, Sir Tuxford; you can always count on me to be punctual," he bragged to his superior.

"But we'd agreed I...!"

"I'm sorry, Cavin, but you have been too unrealizable lately," Sir Tuxford shook his head, "This was an important job to set up for this contest, and you still aren't willing to say exactly where you ran off to?"

"I...I'm sorry, but I promised them I wouldn't tell...!"

"Tell who?"

"I can't...I've promised...!" Cavin put both hands over his face in despair, clearly seeing no way out.

"Gummi bears, I'll bet," Unwin laughed contemptuously, "Still searching for fairy tales..."

"All right, Unwin, that's enough. You may go man the final target," Six Tuxford waved him off to the field of play, where the other archers were congregating. "I'm sorry to have to do this, Cavin, but I'd like you to go clean the stables while the tournament progresses," he told the boy, indeed looking a bit regretful.

"But Sir Tuxford, I've been looking forward to...!"

"I'm sorry, my boy, but that's final. A knight in training must always be punctual, and honest, if he wishes to taste the full fruits of knightly life," Sir Tuxford turned and walked away, shaking his head sadly. Cubbi himself sighed sadly at the sight of Cavin slouching towards the stables with his head hung low. "All our fault again," the bear mused miserably, "I hate to have him keep suffering like this for knowing us."

"And you're abso-tively sure you can't tell nobody you guys are real?" Tigger asked with concern of his own.

"No. There are times like this I'd want to, but Gruffi's pretty firm in saying that..."

"Excuse me, Mr., uh, Masked Marvel," a squire ran up, "Take your place, please, at Target Number Eight. We're about to get started."

"All righty, here we go, hoo hoo hoo HOOO!" Tigger skipped merrily up to the eighth slot in the courtyard, now flanked by the other archers. It was at that moment that the royal trumpeters blew out a fanfare that set the crowd watching on nearby stands cheering. "Here ye, here ye, the seven hundredth anniversary archery contest is about to begin," announced a scop in the middle of the courtyard, "Our sovereign highness, King Gregor, to welcome you all and give the rules."

Enthusiastic applause greeted the king, who rose from his seat on the dais above the front of the courtyard. "Welcome, one and all, and congratulations to our finalists who have signed on for this grand celebratory event," he declared to the nine archers, including Tigger, in the courtyard below him, "In honor of Dunwyn's seven hundredth celebration, there will be seven rounds of shooting. The least accurate archer at the end of each round will be eliminated, and the distance will be increased with each round. The grand winner shall receive seven hundred gold coins, to be presented by your future queen, the Princess Calla," he gestured his daughter to stand, which she did to a strong ovation, "And now, let the tournament begin!"

Another loud cheer arose. "Archers, to your marks," the scop ordered them, "We shall go down the line in order, at a distance of ten feet. First, Sir Hubert Beaumont; you may fire when ready."

The first archer drew back his bow and fired, landing his arrow in the second innermost ring of his target. "Baron Giles Buckingshire," the scop gave the signal for the next archer to shoot.

"Look at that creep Unwin, smiling and taking Cavin's honor," Cubbi growled, gesturing at the grinning and whistling Unwin behind the last target down the line, "I wish we could really give him a piece of our minds!"

"Well, who says we can't if nobody's looking?" a mischievous Tigger grinned, his eyes training on a heavy water pot perched on the castle wall directly above the spot Unwin was standing on. The tiger glanced down the line to make sure the was still time before he'd have to shoot, then quickly drew an arrow from his quiver, placed it on his bow, and aimed for the pot. "Bath time for the bad guy," he laughed softly, drawing back the bow with his tail and firing. Sure enough, the arrow struck the pot and knocked it over to land square on Unwin's head, soaking him thoroughly. "Hey, what's going on!?" the page's voice echoed from inside the pot, staggering around.

"Hold the proceedings!" the scop held up his hands right as the archer next to Tigger fired. He rushed over and pulled the pot off the saturated Unwin, "What happened, page?"

"I don't know; that blasted thing just fell on me!" Unwin raged, swiping at his wet clothing.

"Oh well, the sun'll dry it," the scop seemed unconcerned. "We resume," he announced, returning to the center of the courtyard, "With a new last minute entry, the self-proclaimed Masked Marvel. You may fire when ready."

"Watch this, Cub old boy; I'm gonna try a trick bank shot here that I bet they'll never have seen before!" Tigger drew back another arrow, but instead aimed for the courtyard's left wall, making all the spectators there scream and dash for cover. Tigger fired, and the arrow ricocheted off the wall, bounced off the far wall, shaving a line down a stunned Unwin's hair before he had time to react, slammed off the bottom of the royal dais, zoomed back past Tigger and Cubbi, ricocheted off a large pan on a concession wagon, and amazingly managed to land just inside the bullseye of Tigger's target. The audience, after a brief silence, broke into applause. "Thank you, thank you!" Tigger took a huge bow, "But I've got more up my sleeves to come!"

"Well done, well done!" the king himself was applauding atop the dais, "Most unusual, but well done, don't you agree, Calla?"

"Oh, yes, Father. But I still would have liked to have joined the contest myself," the princess seemed a little miffed.

"Now Calla, you know these competitions are unbecoming of a future queen," her father reminded her, "And the honor of rewarding the winner is something I'd think any princess would be willing to look forward to. Speaking of which, Sir Tuxford," his gaze turned to the empty podium to his right, "Weren't you supposed to bring up the bag of coins?"

"Oh, oh, yes, sire," Sir Tuxford rambled, "Guess I forgot after having a long talk with Cavin about being late (he did not see Calla grimly put her hands over her face). Oh well, we can fetch it now. You there, Sir Troon," he called to one of the knights standing nearby, "Go fetch the prize bag from the treasury vault."

* * *

"Hmm," Stan tapped one of the castle walls, "Seems like this place is a bit thin. No more than six inches or so. Let me see how this stacks up to the other walls, Heff," he turned to the heffalump.

"Huh?" Heff frowned in confusion.

"Heff, I said to draw out the thickness of each wall we tested! What have you...!?" Stan snatched the paper his colleague was holding away-and quickly slapped a hand to his face in frustration. For instead of labeling the thickness of each wall, Heff had been playing tic-tac-toe on it. "I was winning, too," the heffalump offered.

Stan let out a strangled cry, hopping from one foot to another. "All right, given time considerations, we'll tell the duke to aim his rockets here; it's facing the mountains anyway, and since it looks like a dungeon down here," he glanced through the nearest barred window, "nobody innocent gets hurt. OK, let's pack up and get out of here before..."

"Stan, I smell honey," Heff proclaimed, his trunk sniffing the air, "Right, in...there," he pointed with it through the nearest unbarred window. Stan looked in and indeed saw several pots of honey on a table in one of the kitchens. "All right, but we gotta make it quick," he told his partner, "We've been here long enough, and the duke..."

"OK you two, hold it right there," Tummi abruptly stepped out from around the wall, Pooh right behind him, "We heard everything. You're not going to help Igthorne destroy Dunwyn Castle."

"Oh yeah? Heff, get those bears!" Stan ordered the heffalump.

"But what if they've got the giant mouse somewhere, Stan?" Heff's eyes darted nervously around, as if expecting Roo to appear at any minute.

"Fine, fine, you coward; you get the honey, I'll take care of them!" the woozle rolled his eyes. "All right, you two, you're messing with the wrong woozle!" he lunged towards the bears. Tummi quickly drew a small flask and drank its contents, then, to Pooh's amazement, bounced high in the air. Stan sailed under him, crashing hard into the castle wall. "How did you do that?" Pooh inquired with wide eyes.

"Gummiberry juice. It gives us great bouncing power and makes humans strong. Here," Tummi tossed him another flask, "If you are a descendant of a great Gummi, it should work for you too."

"Well," Pooh hesitated for a moment, but quickly downed the bottle when he saw Stan lunging at them again. A strange sensation swept over him. "Here goes," he jumped in place, and to his surprise bounced nearly ten feet in the air. Stan, glancing up at him in surprise, crashed into Heff's rear end, sending the two of them toppling through the window into the kitchen. "Forget the honey; we gotta split this place!" Stan pulled Heff away from the pots on the table, "Come on!"

"Hold it right there, you two!" Tummi bounded through the window after them. Pooh followed, bouncing high. "This is rather a bit fun. Although, I doubt Piglet would like it," he commented.

"It is pretty...hold it, oncoming traffic," Tummi screeched to a halt and pulled Pooh around the corner. For a trio of maids were coming up the hall. They walked right by the bears-and Stan and Heff, who had taken the fact they were in a hall filled with spare suits of armor to pose as two of them. "Through here, quick," Stan pointed at a door to their left. Heff grabbed the knob with his trunk and ripped the door clean off its hinges. "Whoa, Stan, look at all this gold!" he exclaimed. For the room they'd entered was the royal treasury.

"Oh yeah. And look at that big bag of it," Stan noticed one on a pedestal right in the front of the room. "Oh well, might as well not leave here empty-handed," he grabbed hold of it.

"Put that down now!" Tummi bounced into the room, "You're not robbing from the royal treasury!"

"Oh yeah? Let them have it, Heff!" Stan ordered the heffalump, who sucked up a pile of gold coins from the floor in his trunk and blew them back at the bears. Pooh and Tummi stumbled backwards from the deluge, allowing Stan and Heff to rush by them with the big bag of gold. "Come back with that!" the blue bear shouted, bouncing up the hall after them with Pooh in tow.

"Can't catch us, can't catch us!" Heff laughed backwards, turning a corner with a good distance between them...

...where he and Stan abruptly ran into Sir Gawain, who was walking up the hall. The collision made Stan drop the bag, spilling coins underneath a nearby door, which Heff in turn knocked open when he fell down as well. "I say, watch where you're going! And who the blazes are you two!?" Sir Gawain glanced wide eyed at the huffalump and woozle, "I can't say I've seen the likes of you on any of my quests."

"Out of the way, old man!" Stan pushed him aside. "Out the window, Heff!" he pointed at the nearest one. The two of them scrambled out it and grabbed hold of vines on the side of the castle. "I've got them, Tummi," Pooh bounced towards the window and out it after the escapees...

...when he abruptly felt the Gummiberry juice inside him wear off. "Oh bother!" he groaned, falling down into the moat with a loud splash. "So long, sucker!" Stan taunted him from the opposing shore. He and Heff disappeared into the woods in a flash. "Oh bother," Pooh groaned again, swimming to the bank, "I don't like it when they get away."

"I say, are you all right down there?" Sir Gawain called from the window above.

"Yes, I am. I felt the juice wear off," Pooh called back up.

"It doesn't last too long," Tummi joined the elderly knight at the window, "Forgot to tell you that."

"Is he a new Gummi?" Sir Gawain asked him with delight.

"Maybe, maybe not. Help me fish him out of there; we've got to get a message to King Gregor-somehow."

* * *

"I can't believe that moron actually made the finals," Gruffi mumbled out of the corner of his mouth to Piglet while the two of them joined the rest of the mime troop they'd joined up with in pretending to row canoes, "Especially with how unorthodox his methods are."

"Well, Tigger is Tigger, I suppose," Piglet mumbled back, bending over and pretending to gather haycorns, "Now let's see if...oh dear," he mused as the other archery finalist shot his arrow straight into the center of the bullseye, "I don't know if Tigger can top that."

"Well if he can't, we've got to maneuver our way up to King Gregor," Gruffi gestured up at the king, leaning forward in anticipation for Tigger's final shot, "I guess in the confusion we might be able to...uh oh, hit the deck!"

For Tigger was aiming the arrow right at the wall all the mimes were standing by. With out of character cries, all the mimes dove to the ground seconds before the arrow shot into the wall behind them. It caromed back into the opposite wall, then back and forth repeatedly to more cries from onlookers in harm's way, before, incredibly, splitting the other finalist's arrow straight down the middle in the center of the bullseye. There was momentary silence before a tremendous cry rose up. "Thank you, thank you!" Tigger could be heard saying happily. He bowed to the crowd, then started bouncing on his hind feet in delight. "Don't, you idiot, you'll give yourself away bouncing like that!" Gruffi muttered through gritted teeth at him.

"Well, anyway, let's try and get to the king," Piglet took the bear's hand. They weaved their way through the crowd, and had soon reached the dais the king was on...

...but were abruptly brushed aside by a knight running onto the platform. "Your Majesty, the first prize bag of gold has been stolen from the royal treasury!" he gasped to the king. Gregor and everyone else on the platform gasped. "How did this happen?" he demanded to the knight.

"I don't know, Sire; the door was ripped clean off its hinges, and the bag was gone!" the knight related.

"Order a search of the castle immediately; we must find that bag to reward the winning Masked Marvel," Gregor ordered him.

"No need, your Majesty, I found the gold," another knight rushed forward, holding the bag, "It was inside the doorway of one of the page's rooms on the first floor."

"The first floor? But that would...no, not Cavin!" Sir Tuxford's eyes went wide, "He wouldn't have...!"

"Are you absolutely sure that was Cavin's room?" Gregor asked the second knight gravely.

"If his is the fourth on the left down from the treasury, yes."

"I see. Take me to the scene of the crime, so I may see for myself," the king told him.

"Father, you know it can't be that! You know Cavin's no thief, not after last time!" Calla begged him desperately, "It's got to be a mistake...!"

"I sincerely hope so, my dear, but I'd like to see with my own eyes to be sure. And if it is true that he stole the gold, please don't make a scene," the king warned her, "Sorry, not now, I have official business to see to," he gently pushed past Gruffi and Piglet when they tried to approach him. "Well, this really complicates things," the bear grumbled in disgust at the royal entourage leaving.

"Cavin wouldn't really have stolen the gold, would he?" Piglet asked, worried, "He seems like such a nice boy."

"No, I'm pretty sure he didn't, and we'd better find out what really happened, fast," Gruffi gestured at Cubbi and Tigger in the courtyard below, "Let's get to the tunnels and find Pooh and Tummi quick."


	8. The Rocket's Red Scare

"Is it almost done yet!?" Igthorne shouted impatiently to Grammi, positioned atop a ladder leaning against an oversized pot, "I can't wait forever to conquer Dunwyn!"

"Keep your shirt on, Igthorne, I'm just about there!" Grammi shouted back. With a heavy sigh, she banged her ladle against the side of the pot several times. "There, it's done," she called down bitterly.

"And you'd better not have pulled any more tricks, lady. Toadwart," Igthorne rounded on his main adjutant, "You're stupid and expendable; test out the juice and make sure it's right."

"Stupid Toadie glad to take test for honorable duke," Toadwart scrambled up the ladder, pushed Grammi aside, seized the ladle, dipped out some juice, and took a drink. With wide eyes, he leaped to the ground, grabbed a nearby boulder, and crushed it into pebbles. "This Gummiberry juice all right, Dukie," he told his superior.

"Excellent, excellent!" Igthorne rubbed his hands eagerly. "You did well, Gummi; let me help you down," he called up to Grammi, then shoved the ladder over, sending her spilling to the ground. "Oh I'm sooooooo sorry. Now get back to work with the others on the rest of my fleet," he picked her up and hurled her to where the rest of his prisoners were finishing up on the rest of the rockets. "You men, fill up the test rocket with the juice; now we have fuel, so we can test it to show Gregor what we have," he called to a nearby group of yellow ogres, "I want the rest of the fleet finished by sunset, slaves, and...what are you writing!?" he noticed Owl was scribbling something on several sheets of paper.

"Since, sir duke, you plan a big show to take over the kingdom, I'm merely writing to all my relatives telling them to come watch the show, if that's not a crime to you," Owl told him grandly.

"Well, I guess that's all right. Just let me make sure..." Igthorne grabbed for the papers, but Owl pulled them away. "You've threatened all of us with swift and painful demises; I would have to think that would be incentive enough for me to avoid writing anything incriminating, don't you?" he asked the duke sternly.

"Good point. Finish up quick and get back to work," Igthorne ordered him.

"Just about done anyway...and, here we are," Owl finished writing the last letter, folded them all into paper airplanes, and tossed them upward into the stiff breeze, which carried them due east. "They've got about ten hours to get here if they want to watch my triumphal reentrance. Keep filling that rocket!" Igthorne turned his attention back to his ogres. Owl sided alongside a glum Grammi once the duke was gone. "And so, judging by the current atmospheric conditions and wind speed, distance to where I now know my relatives live, and the efficiency of the owl to owl communications network we agreed on after our last family reunion, we should have a large number of reinforcements arriving just in time to tip the balance in our favor," he whispered to her.

"It may still be too late, Owl," Grammi sighed miserably, "This is a sad day in the history of the Gummi race; the secret formula of Gummiberry juice given up for the purposes of evil."

"Good thing we kept berries from time we kidnapped you just in case, eh?" Toadwart had listened in on the last sentence. Grammi glared him down. "If I had any of that juice on hand now, I'd really give you what for!" she snapped at him.

"Toadwart, bring the donkey over," Igthorne ordered him, "We're moving the test rocket into Dunwyn."

"Name happens to be Eeyore; not that anyone usually cares anyway," Eeyore mumbled softly as Toadwart and several other ogres dragged him to the front of the rocket and roughly hitched him up to it. "All right, giddyup!" the small ogre hopped onto the rocket carriage and cracked a whip. "OOOOONK!" Eeyore groaned, but managed to slowly drag the rocket forward into the brook. Igthorne reopened the portal to Dunwyn-and was promptly bowled over by Stan and Heff, who rushed through on the other end. "Watch it you fools!" the duke blasted them, swiping at his wet clothes.

"Sorry duke, but mission accomplished. Here's the weakest spot on the castle walls we could find," Stan handed him a revised drawing of the castle with an X at the weak spot, "You can probably hit this with your rockets, and the whole works could go."

"Very good, very good. A promise is a promise gentlemen; there's all the honey I could find offhand," Igthorne pointed at a big pile of pots on the table nearby. "Oh boy!" Heff's eyes went wide in delight, "Thanks, Duke!"

He rushed the table and started wolfing the honey down. Stan walked over more calmly and picked up a single pot. "The boys training well so far?" he asked Igthorne, taking a bite.

"Yes, they seem to be taking quite well to warfare," Igthorne glanced into the nearby field, where all the huffalumps and woozles were bow engaged in mock hand to hand combat with each other, "They'll do well storming Dunwyn's walls."

"Speaking of which, I also happen to know who else we might use for this," a devious look crossed Stan's face, "He'll be able to tear down your castle's walls if explosives won't."

"Oh no, you're not going for Wooster again, are you!? Please don't bring Wooster into this, Stan!" Heff had turned pale.

"Yeah, Wooster. And I doubt that bear, if he's even got the brains, will be able to picnic his way out of it this time. Come on," Stan took Heff by the trunk and started dragging him over the nearest hill despite the heffalump's efforts to break away, "All we gotta do is tell Wooster there's a load of honey in the castle, and they're as good as doomed..."

"Oh well. Forward with that rocket again. And bring the catapult and tar balls too!" Igthorne ordered the ogres, opening the portal again. Eeyore groaned again from more whip cracks, but managed to haul the rocket through the portal into the old Gummi fortress. He shuddered at the sight of dozens of carpies perched throughout the hall, watching him with cold expressions. "The duke sure knows how to pick his troops good. These guys'll scare the pants off anyone," the donkey mused out loud.

Then he noticed the rocket was leaking Gummiberry juice. "If it works for ogres..." he mumbled softly, then suddenly lurched backwards, locked his mouth around the hole, and sucked up the juice. Immediately a strong rush swept through him. "Here goes," he mumbled, leaping forward and snapping out of his harness. "Stop runaway donkey!" Toadwart ordered the other ogres, who pursued Eeyore hard. The donkey, however, was bouncing up a storm, and was soon leaving them in the dust. "If nobody's made it to the king yet, might as well be the one to give the warning," he said to himself out loud, bouncing over a wide chasm. It was at this moment, however, the Gummiberry juice wore off on him. "Should have known it was too small a swig to make it," he complained with stoic acceptance before plunging several hundred feet down the chasm into thick woods. "Where'd he go!?" Igthorne caught up with the ogres at the edge of the drop.

"Donkey take big fall," Toadwart pointed to the woods far below.

"Well, there's no way he survived that. Get the rocket and catapult into position; wait for my signal to fire," Igthorne started down the trail. Far below, deep in the woods, however, an alive and well Eeyore hauled himself to his feet. "Hurt a lot more than I thought it would, but it's good to be alive," he mumbled, starting forward, "Dunwyn Castle, here I come."

* * *

"Why couldn't you stop those...heffel...woods...!?" Cubbi stammered as he and the others rushed through the Gummi tunnels under the castle.

"Heffalumps and woozles. I tried to, but the juice wore off," Pooh explained sheepishly.

"If they get Cavin thrown back in jail, I don't know what I'll do!" the pink bear lamented, looking terrified at his friend being in trouble again.

"Well, nothing to worry about; I think that's a job the Crescent Avenger guy'll be able to handle, right?" Tigger back Cubbi a big nod, making Cubbi go pale.

"What's the Crimson Avenger got to do with any of this?" Gruffi raised an eyebrow.

"Uh...I think Tigger and Cubbi might know how to reach him," Tummi cut in quickly.

"How?" Gruffi gave him a stern look.

"Uh...listen, Cavin," Tummi turned to his left. Sure enough, the page's frightened voice could be heard by another grating down a tunnel branching off from the one they were in. The animals hurried down the tunnel and came to a stop by the grating. "...swear I was cleaning the stables like you asked, Sir Tuxford!" Cavin stammered fearfully, "I never left there until now; you have to believe me!"

"Believe me, Cavin, I want to, but there is the fact the gold was found in your room, and that no one saw you in the stables," Sir Tuxford told him grimly, "Now if you have anything to say, please say so honestly now."

"Now see here, Sir Tuxford, I tell you my grandson Cavin is entirely innocent of this whole affair!" Sir Gawain spoke up firmly from the rear of the knot of people in the hallway, "And I've told you before, I myself ran into the true culprits...!"

"You really expect us to believe an orange elephant and oversized weasel wearing suits of armor stole the gold?" Unwin sounded on the verge of hysterical laughter, "That's almost as bad as Cavin's Gummi bear fixation. I'll bet the two of you did it together."

"Young man, in my days, an open mind was a good prerogative for becoming a knight. And I tell you, an elephant and a weasel stole that gold; I stopped them from escaping up this very hall!" the elderly knight insisted.

"A likely story, old man; you're covering for..."

"All right, Unwin, please go find that Masked Marvel and tell him we're ready to reward him," King Gregor told him sternly. Once Unwin had left, he turned towards Cavin with a grave expression. "I'm so sorry to have to do this, Cavin, but I'm going to have you held under house arrest in the dungeons until hard proof of your innocence comes up," he said with a saddened shake of the head-and a horrified gasp from Cubbi.

"Father, no, this is wrong!" Calla begged him desperately, "Why would Cavin do this! He respects the treasury, he would never...!"

"Calla, please, don't make this harder than it has to be. Take him," the king ordered two nearby knights.

"No, I won't let you do this!" his daughter stepped in front of Cavin, "You can't lock him up!"

"Calla, please stand aside," her father begged her.

"I won't! You always say a monarch has to do what's right for the kingdom; protecting Cavin is what's right!" she remained defiant.

"You've got a wise child, Sire; I'd listen well to her," Sir Gawain pointed out.

"Calla, I'm ordering you as the king to step aside, or I may have to do something I don't want to do!" Gregor demanded.

"No Father, I won't...!"

"No, Calla, don't risk it," looking glum, Cavin stepped out from behind her with his head hung low and his hands extended out. "I'll go."

"Cavin, don't...!"

"I'm sorry, princess. Let's go, lad," Sir Tuxford took Cavin's hand, waved off the knights approaching with shackles, and gently led the page down the hall. With a low sob, Calla ran off in the other direction. Gregor stared after her sadly. "She IS brave, Sir Gawain, I will grant that," he told Cavin's grandfather with a heavy sigh, "But you understand the gravity of the situation; I have no choice but to do this."

"And I still say you've made a terrible mistake, Sire," Sir Gawain frowned deeply at him, "Even if you don't believe me that I saw an elephant and weasel stealing your gold, let's look at this situation from a detective's standpoint. Look at the way the gold spilled into Cavin's room," he pointed at it, "If he was stealing it, why would he just toss it in like that?"

"Well..."

"And take a look at the door to the treasury," the elderly knight, pointed at the door, lying on the floor from where Heff had ripped it off, "Do you honestly think Cavin would have had the strength to break the door down like this, even with Gummiberry juice?"

"Please, Sir Gawain, can we maintain a grip on reality here!?" the king waved his arms, "You might think I'm a monster with this, and believe me, I want Cavin to be innocent of this whole affair from the bottom of my heart, but do you really expect me to believe that walking, talking wild animals stole that gold?"

"Sometimes, Sire, what we see with our hearts is clearer than what we see with our eyes," Sir Gawain said firmly, "Now if you really believe Cavin is innocent of this theft, what do you think you...?"

"Your Majesty!" another knight ran around the corner, breathlessly, "Your Majesty, Igthorne's back! He's outside the drawbridge demanding our immediate surrender!"

"What!?" Gregor's jaw dropped, "But...he's safely in that other world...!"

"I'm sorry, Sire, but he's outside, claiming he'll destroy us all unless you name him king immediately!" the knight told him.

"Do you see any obvious weapon, either with him or on the nearby hills?"

"No, Sire."

"All right. I still intend to end this. Get Sir Tuxford, tell him to get together some of the men and prepare to charge him. If I can't expel him from this world, I want him in the dungeons for life," Gregor started up the hall.

"But what about my grandson, Sire!?" Sir Gawain called after him.

"I'll consider releasing Cavin after I take care of this; I'm sorry, but neutralizing any threats Igthorne might plan to make are more important," the king called over his shoulder. Inside the tunnel, Gruffi audibly gulped out loud. "If Igthorne's here to make threats, that must mean he's almost ready to attack," the lead Gummi bear mumbled nervously.

"So wh-what do we do now?" Piglet asked, himself quite nervous, "I can't see what..."

"Hello, are you all in there now?" Sir Gawain was bending down by the grating, having apparently heard them.

"Um, yes, we are," Pooh answered, "If you're a knight, which you seem to be, what do we do next? As a Bear of Very Little Brains, I can't really decide."

"I'll help the king handle Igthorne-somehow. You all get my grandson Cavin out of prison," Sir Gawain told them, opening the grating to be face to face with them, "After all, the Gummi Way is to help those in need."

"You're right. And Cavin needs us now," Cubbi declared, his paws clenched in determination.

"OK, Tummi, come with me; we'll see what Igthorne's got with him," Gruffi told the blue bear, "The rest of you, get Cavin out; it's obviously too late to warn King Gregor now, but..."

"King Gregor," came a familiar voice from the windowsill, "I need to find him!"

"Well, you're too late, whoever you are; this kingdom's already..." Gruffi stuck his head out of the grating. "Who are you?" he frowned.

"Why that's Kessie, of course," smiling, Pooh scrambled out and rushed to the bluebird, now perched on the windowsill, "It's so good to see you here, Kessie."

"Good to see you too, Pooh Bear," Kessie hugged him well, "Everyone helped me to escape; I would have been here sooner, but I had to escape some large vulture-like birds that tried to catch me."

"Carpies," Cubbi recognized the description, "Don't tell me they're in on Igthorne's plan too?"

"Let's hope not," Tummi shuddered. "Well, since you're here, and you seem to be one of Pooh's friends, maybe you could help us anyway, even if it's too late to warn the king now," he approached Kessie as well, "We've got to break out a page who's been wrongly imprisoned. Flutter on down to the dungeon windows down below here and see which one he's in."

"I sure can," Kessie prepared to take off, then turned. "Where's Rabbit?"

"He went back looking for you, so either he got lost or captured. Or maybe both, I don't know," Pooh frowned. Suppressing a worried look, Kessie flew out the window. Barely ten seconds later, however, she returned. "Found him easy," she announced, "He's in the cell right below this window; a girl's trying to pull him through the bars."

"What!?" Gruffi pushed his way to the window. "Calla, what are you doing!?" he groaned, to see the princess trying to pull Cavin through the bars of his cell, to no luck.

"Trying to help Cavin get out, of course," Cubbi joined him at the window, "Come on, let's go help her."

* * *

"I'm deadly serious this time, Gregor; surrender Dunwyn to me at once, or watch it crumble to rubble!" Igthorne's loud threats were echoing through the air as everyone popped out of the other end of the Gummi tunnel by the foot of the castle.

"Your bluffs don't scare me, Igthorne!" King Gregor shouted back defiantly, "You've exhausted every trick in your arsenal; it's time to surrender!"

"Wish he was out of tricks," Cubbi mumbled under his breath. He led the rush over to where Calla was straining to pull Cavin through the cell window. "Breathe in, Cavin, I know you'll fit through!" she asked him through gritted teeth.

"Uh, I may not be the wisest of bears, but I don't really think he'll be able to get through," Pooh spoke up, making her turn. "Good, you're here," she greeted them all, "Give me a hand here."

"Princess Calla, why are you doing this?" Piglet asked, worried, "I agree Cavin didn't steal the gold, but if your father finds out you're helping a prisoner escape..."

"I don't care if he finds out of not, Piglet; a good ruler helps her subjects when they need it, and I am the future queen. Help me pull him through," Calla tugged hard on Cavin's hands.

"You got it," Cubbi eagerly joined her, but they could barely get Cavin's head and part of his shoulders through the bars. "This isn't working," the pink bear lamented, plopping down on the ground, "We need another plan."

"And lucky us; here comes old Long Ears; he's bound to have an idea or five," Tigger pointed to the other side of the moat. Sure enough, a completely exhausted Rabbit was crawling on his hands and knees along the ground towards the water. "I'm coming, Kessie...Rabbie...is...coming...!" the rabbit rambled, collapsing in a heap at the edge of the moat. "Rabbit, are you all right?" Kessie in fact flew over in front of his face.

"Don't bother me now, Kessie; I need to get to Kessie right away; who knows what's going to happen to her, all alone in this world, when..." Rabbit stopped and did a quick double take. "Kessie!" he gasped in delight, hugging her close, "Oh I've been so worried about you! Did anyone hurt you? Are you injured? Is...?"

"I'm fine, Rabbit; everyone else helped me escape; I wanted to warn the king, but it looks like we're a little late for that," Kessie gestured with her wing towards Igthorne at the entrance to Dunwyn.

"Well, no matter, we're together again, and that's all that matters, Kessie," Rabbit hugged her tight-too tightly, in fact. "Uh, Rabbit, I can't breathe...!" Kessie complained, pressed hard against his chest.

"Hey, you want to come over and help me get Cavin out of here?" Calla called over to him.

"What? Oh, yes, certainly; let's see what the story here is," Rabbit hopped over the moat. "Hmm, I don't think you'll be able to pull him out, sorry," he shook his head after appraising the situation, "Maybe if we got a long metal bar and leveraged the bars..."

"No time for that...but wait, all I really need is Gummiberry juice," Calla realized, "Do you have any, Cubbi?" she asked the pink bear.

"Uh," Cubbi searched through his pockets. "Here...but it's just about empty," he frowned at the bottle, which only had a small amount of Gummiberry juice at the bottom.

"That's all I need," Calla took the bottle and downed the juice. With a determined look on her face, she grabbed hold of the bars of Cavin's cell and bent them apart. "Impressive display, for a princess," Rabbit was impressed.

"Forgive me for being a downer, since that's usually Eeyore's job, but is he still going to be able to get through?" Pooh frowned at the opening, which still seemed too small for Cavin to get through.

"We'll make him get through," Calla grabbed Cavin's hands again. "I told you that you don't have to risk this for me, Calla," the page protested, "I'm sure I'll be found innocent eventually..."

"I'm not taking that chance, Cavin; we're...oh no," she gasped, sliding partially to the ground, "It wore off quicker than I thought!"

"I guess it was too small an amount to last much longer," Cubbi stared at the empty bottle.

"I'm stuck now!" Cavin cried, wedged midway between the inside and outside of the cell.

"Everyone together, help me get him out!" Calla waved everyone to the cell window. They all grabbed hold of Cavin's arms and started to pull...

...at the exact moment Igthorne could heard shouting, "Let me show you exactly what power I have in my hands, Gregor! FIRE!" Seconds later, there was a sound like thunder from the western mountains. Everyone's heads shot around. "Oh no, tell me that isn't what I think it is!" Rabbit gulped in fear.

"I would love to tell you it isn't what you think it is, Rabbit, but I don't know what you think it is...but I don't like what it looks like either," Pooh gulped as well to see the bright orange blur screaming out of the mountains towards the castle. "Look, up there, Sire!" it was Sir Tuxford shouting now from atop the parapets.

"My word! What work of the devil is this now, Igthorne!?" Gregor demanded to his former greatest knight.

"The future of warfare, and Dunwyn's destruction!" Igthorne laughed maniacally. The rocket became larger and larger in the sky, barreling through the air towards Dunwyn Castle. And more specifically...

"OH D-D-D-D-DEAR, IT'S HEADED RIGHT AT US!" Piglet screeched, making out clearly where its trajectory was taking it.

"ABANDON CASTLE!" Tigger frantically scooped Piglet and Cubbi in one arm and Rabbit and Kessie in the other and bounced to safety in the moat. Pooh tried to follow, but...

"Oh bother, I think my shirt is caught!" he cried out, tugging at it, but it was stuck hard in a protruding bolt against the cell wall.

"Calla, go, don't worry about me!" Cavin begged the princess, seeing the missile getting ever closer to the castle wall.

"No, I won't leave you here, Cavin!" she sounded scared, but continued try to pull him out, "Pooh Bear, go!"

"I can't! CHRISTOPHER ROBIN!" Pooh made a desperate cry for his master to come.

"Hold still, Pooh!" it was Kessie, now perched on the windowsill, pecking frantically at the caught shirt, "I think I can get this in time...!"

"Kessie, what are you doing!? Get away from there!" horror in his eyes, Rabbit was trying to scramble out of the moat towards her, but was being restrained hard by Tigger, "Kessie, come to Rabbie; you don't know what you're doing...!"

"I've saving someone, Rabbit...got it!" Kessie pulled the shirt loose a split second before the rocket slammed into the side of the castle directly above the cell. The force of the explosion blew Pooh backwards into the moat...which was fortunate, as the whole wall collapsed downwards on top of where he would have been standing. "KESSIE!" wild eyed in terror, Rabbit strained hard to break out of Tigger's grasp, "Let go of me, I've got to save her...!"

"Forget it, Long Ears; you'd be crazy to go in there!" Tigger pointed grimly at the remains of the wall, now a large pile of rubble-and at this point, another large section of wall collapsed on top of that, burying it further. "Oh no, Cavin and Calla...!" Cubbi was just as horrified, staring at the massive pile of debris.

"Oh bother..." was all Pooh himself could manage, staring at the wreckage of the castle wall, feeling a twinge of guilt starting to rise within himself...


	9. Igthorne on the March

"Hurry, men, clear the debris away, quickly!" a frantic Sir Tuxford called to his fellow knights, shoving several large cracked stones aside himself. From their position inside the moat, Pooh and the others watched the rescue operation worriedly. "Should it really be taking this long to find them?" he asked grimly.

"Let's just hope it's because there's so much debris," Tummi, having joined the others with Gruffi shortly after the rocket had hit the castle, shivered, and not from the coldness of the water, "Because if this means that..."

"Here, we've got them!" one of the knights called out from the bottom of the castle wall. Sir Tuxford rushed over, a pale King Gregor fresh on his heels. "Is she all right!?" the king begged the knights desperately.

"Give us a minute to get her out, your Majesty," the knight told him, waving the king back. He pushed aside one last large stone and grimly hefted the limp form of Calla from the wreckage of the wall. "Oh bother, that's not good," Pooh shook his head.

"Just like after Igthorne used the Great Gummiscope on the castle," Tummi had put his hand over his face, unable to watch, "I hope it's not any worse than the unconscious stretch she suffered then."

"I just hope Cavin's all right," Cubbi looked deathly worried for his best friend's safety. An agonized groan, however, made it clear Cavin was still conscious. "Here now, let me get him out," Sir Gawain pushed his way through the debris to extract his grandson personally. "Cavin my boy, how bad is it!?"

"My ribs hurt...my head hurts..." Cavin moaned, his eyes still closed, "Calla...?"

"Well...you'll find out soon enough. Come on, I'll take you up for medical aid," Sir Gawain took both he and Calla in hand and gently carried them back into the castle. "Calla, what were you thinking!?" tears flooded the king's eyes at the sight of his daughter being carried away unconscious for the second time in recent memory, "Why couldn't you wait until I'd done a thorough check to...!?"

"So now you see what I've got, Gregor. Will you surrender?" came Igthorne's demand from the drawbridge. Rage flushed over Gregor's face. "Sir Tuxford, capture him now!" he ordered his head knight, "I want him in the dungeon for life for this!"

"You've got it, Sire. Draw your weapons and charge!" Sir Tuxford ordered the surrounding knights. The drew their swords and rushed through the wall...

"Heads up!" Tigger couldn't help shouting from the moat, noticing something large and black flying towards the castle. The knights turned in confusion as to where the shout had come from. "Retreat!" Sir Tuxford saw the incoming mass flying at them before any of them could examine the voice's origin. The knights scrambled back inside the castle walls just before a giant tar ball crashed down, plugging up the gap. A second enormous tar ball flew towards the drawbridge and slammed into it, sticking it hard in the up position. "No one leaves until I'm acknowledged as your new king!" Igthorne shouted to the Dunwyn citizens inside the castle, "You all have till sunrise to surrender, or I'll unleash my whole arsenal on you in an attack Dunwyn will never forget!"

He laughed maniacally and turned his horse around. With the coast now clear of humans, Rabbit finally broke away from Tigger's grasp. "Gotta find Kessie...gotta be in time...must find her now!" he rambled in a wild eyed panic, tossing stones in every direction in his search for the bluebird, "Everybody help me...she can't be...!"

"Don't waste your time," Gruffi told him, nonetheless overturning stones himself, "Finding one small bluebird in this is like finding a needle in a..."

"Oh bother," Pooh exclaimed sadly, having overturned a large stone of his own, "Um, Rabbit, are you willing to hear both good news and bad news?"

"Wh-Wh-What do you mean...!?"

"Uh, the good news is, I just found Kessie for you. The bad news is..." Pooh grimly bent down and lifted a limp, motionless Kessie from the wreckage of the wall. Choking in grief, Rabbit snatched his ward off the bear. "I'm so sorry, Kessie," he mumbled weakly, tears flowing down his face, "I promised nothing would ever happen to you...I'm sorry; I should have kept a closer hold on you...!"

"Look at the bright side, Bunny Boy; she went out all hero-like, saving Pooh Bear from the rocket," Tigger put a sympathetic hand around Rabbit, "She made you proud, no doubt about it."

"Save the hysterics; the bird's still breathing," Gruffi stared closely at Kessie's chest, which was still going up and down, "It's probably just a serious concussion; she should be..."

"Igthorne!" as with Gregor moments ago, rage crossed Rabbit's face, "I'll kill him for this! Don't worry Kessie; you shall be avenged!" he told the bluebird firmly, handing her to Piglet, "I'm going to finish him now and stop this attack on the kingdom of Dunwyn in one fell swoop!"

"Uh, Rabbit, perhaps you need some time to think this over?" Pooh didn't like the look in his friend's face.

"Don't try to stop me, Pooh Bear; don't anyone try and stop me!" spying a loaded crossbow lying amid the debris nearby, Rabbit grabbed it, "I said don't stop me!" he pushed Tigger away when the tiger tried to grab his arm, "I'm finishing that madman myself, and nothing can stop me! Get me a horse; I'm going after him!"

* * *

"At l-l-l-least slow down, Rabbit, please!" Piglet begged his friend, holding on tight to the tail of the horse Rabbit had snatched form Dunwyn's stables.

"Not when we have him in our sights!" a crazed-looking Rabbit's gaze was locked into the hindquarters of Igthorne's black horse rounding the curve in the woods a half mile or so ahead of them, "We'll run him down and finish him!"

"Mr. Rabbit, taking revenge is not the Gummi Way!" Cubbi begged him, holding on to Gruffi's back on the rear of the horse, "I understand if you're upset, but this isn't the way to stop Igthorne!"

"Do I look like a Gummi bear to you!?" Rabbit snatched hold of Cubbi and held him in front of his face, "The Gummi Way means nothing to me, especially right now! Faster, faster!" he kicked the horse's ribs to spur it to go faster.

"But Rabbit, think of what Christopher Robin will say if you hurt someone bad!?" Pooh made a last ditch effort to dissuade his friend.

"He'll understand it was for a good cause. FASTER!" Rabbit cocked the crossbow. The horse went round a bend, but Igthorne had vanished from sight. Where'd he go!? I need to...ah, he's in the bushes up there!" Rabbit pointed at bushes moving ahead of them on the left, "Here we go!"

"Rabbit, please, don't...!" Piglet desperately took hold of his arm.

"Get off of me!" Rabbit brushed him aside and leaped to the ground. With an enraged yell, he charged towards the bush, his finger on the crossbow's trigger, "Prepare to eat arrow for Kessie, Igthorne you coward!" he bellowed, grabbing hold of the bushes and thrusting them open...

"YIIIIIIIII!" it was Eeyore on the other end, his ears straight up in the air in terror at finding an arrow in his face. Rabbit jerked to a halt, his expression rapidly switching from rage to horror. "E-E-E-Eeyore...!" he whimpered, his eyes shooting between the donkey and the crossbow, "How'd you...why'd you...where's...!?"

"Just trying to find the quickest way to the castle after getting away from Igthorne and his ogres. Didn't think you'd be so bent on getting him that you'd consider me a possible target," Eeyore said, the color slowly returning to his face, "What's gotten into you? You look like you just saw a hundred jagulars."

"Eeyore...you were...I almost...I could have...!" pale, Rabbit glanced back down at the crossbow, which he abruptly tossed to the ground in revulsion. "What did I do!?" he mumbled weakly, staggering backwards in a daze, "I could have...I was seconds from...!"

"Like Cubbi said, revenge is not the Gummi Way," Gruffi told him, his hands firmly on his hips, "When you seek revenge, things like this usually end up happening. Didn't I say your bird was going to live!? What would she have thought of you if you'd pulled that trigger!?"

"And what would Christopher Robin have said?" Piglet added, taking hold of Rabbit's hand, "Not to mention any family Eeyore may have that wanted to come to visit?"

"Eeyore...Kessie...almost...could have...!" Rabbit wailed miserably, his ears drooping into his face.

"We know, Rabbit; when you love someone too much, as you do with Kessie, these things can't help but happen, I think," Pooh put an arm around him. Rabbit buried his face in his hands and wept. "It's OK, Rabbit, I know what you were thinking," Eeyore nuzzled against him, "Time to pull yourself together and save the day if we can. I take it things have gone pretty bad in Dunwyn since I last saw it?" he turned to everyone else.

"Duke Igthorne launched a big flying thing against the castle; he hurt Cavin and Calla bad!" Cubbi related to the donkey with a pale expression, "They have till sunrise to surrender, or else!"

"Matches what I know; he made me drag the rocket out to its launch point. Should be finished all the others by now, and shouldn't take too much longer to train all the heffalumps and woozles," Eeyore remarked, casting a wary eye up at the mountains.

"More h-h-heffalumps and woozles!?" Piglet gulped.

"Yep, little Piglet; he's forming every last one that isn't friendly into an army to join his ogres. So the castle's probably going to be pretty badly outnumbered," Eeyore told him, "And unfortunately, he's got your kin caged up," he turned to the Gummis, "Forced them with the rest of our friends to build the rockets."

"Oh no!" Cubbi gasped, "We've got to help them...!"

"Walk straight into Igthorne's camp!? I don't think so," Gruffi shook his head, "We're going to have to hope they can come up with a good escape plan; we've got to stand guard at Dunwyn and be ready when Igthorne attacks in the morning. Are you all with me?" he turned to the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood.

"But what can we do?" Piglet looked worried, "We are just Very Small Animals..."

"Maybe, Piglet, but I might be a descendant of a Gummi bear," Pooh said with uncharacteristic firmness, "And even if I'm not, well, since it was me getting stuck on the castle wall that got Kessie...well, how she is now," he admitted, prompting another wail from Rabbit, "then it's only fair that I make that right by defending the castle from the duke-if I only knew how," his expression became confused again.

"We'll find a way," Tummi said just as firmly, "Igthorne's not getting away with any of this."

"Then count us all in," Tigger eagerly shook Tummi's and Gruffi's hand at once, "Fighting off bad guys is what Tiggers do best, after all, hoo hoo hoo HOOOOO!"

"Yeah, I know; that and everything else," Gruffi rolled his eyes, "All right, let's get back to the castle; we don't have much time."

* * *

"Rockets all filled now, dukey," a green ogre called from atop the last rocket in line.

"Excellent, excellent!" Igthorne rubbed his hands in delight. "Well, sorry you won't be able to watch the destruction of Dunwyn directly," he leered at his prisoners in the cage, "But don't worry, we'll tell you all about it right before I liquidate you all when I get back."

"You're not going to hurt Calla or anyone in Dunwyn anymore; we won't let you, and the other Gummis won't let you either!" Sunni ripped him furiously.

"Such strong words from such a helpless prisoner. Don't you worry, my dear; I have full intentions to spare the princess at this point in time," Igthorne assured her with a deep grin, "She's going to make a lovely songbird for the Carpy King when...ah, you're back, and you're dressing for the part," he noticed Stan and Heff had returned, the former now wearing a general's suit with hundreds of medals, and the latter wearing a steel army helmet, "Where's your secret weapon?"

"Coming right up, Duke. Oh Wooster!" Stan hefted a hand-made wooden megaphone and shouted towards the horizon. Moments later, the ground started shaking hard. "HOOOONEEEEEEYYY!" a deep voice intoned. "Oh no, they didn't call him!" Roo looked worried, "He'll stomp the castle flat if he thinks there's honey in there!"

"I know," Stan bent down and sneered into the cage at him, "And nothing your idiot bear friend can cook up will stop him this time...ah, Wooster," he opened his arms towards the gigantic yellow woozle at least twenty stories high stomping over the hill towards the camp, making the ogres cry out in terror. "Not to worry, men; he's on our side," Igthorne calmed his men. "Wooster, is it? So, you want some honey?" he asked the giant woozle.

"WOOSTER WANT LOTS OF HONEY!" Wooster rubbed his gut.

"Well, I know exactly where you can find some, Wooster. Follow old Iggy here, I'll take you to a nice castle that has lots of honey. You'll just have to rip it apart to get the honey, but then its all yours."

"HONNNEEEEEEYYY!" Wooster rubbed his hands in anticipation.

"Good, good. All right men, line up!" Igthorne snatched the bullhorn off Stan and called to all the ogres, "It's time for my final pre-attack pep talk!"

"You heard him, boys; line up for the final instructions!" Stan shouted to the other heffalumps and woozles, who were now armed to the teeth with medieval weapons. They formed ranks behind the ogres, forming an army that was well over a thousand strong. "All right, men," Igthorne jumped up onto a large boulder to address his troops, "In a few moments, you will be embarking on a noble crusade to install me as the rightful king of Dunwyn. Likely a lot of you will die horrific deaths storming the castle, but as long as I get my crown, it will be worth it. And once I'm installed as king, Dunwyn will be yours to loot and pillage as you all see fit, so if that doesn't make the carnage we're about to embark on worth it, I don't know what does."

The ogres roared in delight. "All right, here's how it's going to work," Igthorne scanned his army, "I told Gregor we'd attack at sunrise, but we're going to begin assaulting Dunwyn a half hour before the sun comes up for surprise. I want to catch them as much off guard as possible, so, demolition squad," he gazed at a set of heffalumps and woozles in the front row, all clutching barrels of explosives, "I want the castle walls undermined and filled with explosives on at least two sides. The first wave will charge in and try and take the town and castle with one fell swoop; if that doesn't defeat them immediately, the rest of you will swarm in one wave at a time, and I'll unleash our secret weapons," he gazed up at Wooster towering above his army, and then his fleet of twelve rockets pointing towards where the portal under the Poohsticks Bridge was, "Capture King Gregor alive; I want to execute him myself. You can kill anyone else you come across. You'll have firm air support from the carpies, so don't worry about being taken by surprise from above. And so, are you ready, men?"

"YEAH!" his army roared.

"Do you have your rations of Gummiberry juice?"

"YEAH!" his troops all held up bottles of the juice they'd each been given.

"All right, then, on to Dunwyn, and my kingdom!" the duke thrust his arm victoriously in the air. He aimed his Gummi medallion at the portal and spoke the incantation to open it, revealing the Gummi fortress-and the hordes of carpies waiting inside-on the other side. "Take the men out, general," he ordered Stan.

"Company, forwaaaaaaarrrrrrd, march!" Stan waved his arm grandly, marching into the brook towards the portal. "Like Stan...uh, General Stan said!" Heff added, blowing out a charge on his trunk. With excited shouts, the ogres, heffalumps, and woozles marched towards the portal, many pushing the rockets, additional catapults, and other large weapons along with them. Keeping his medallion trained on the portal, Igthorne walked backwards towards the two ogres now guarding his prisoners' cage. "Here, here's the Gummi's medallion; that rabbit dropped mine outside, so now that I found that one again, I don't need this one at the moment," he told the orange one on the left, gesturing at Zummi, who was grimly watching the procession go by the cage, "Keep the portal open until we all get through," he handed the orange ogre Zummi's medallion, "then be on standby with the rockets we have in reserve in case of emergency," he pointed at two that weren't being wheeled into Dunwyn, "Once Dunwyn Castle falls, liquidate all the prisoners."

"My good man, before such a sentence can be carried out, a fair trial must be held," Owl frowned at him, "It is codified in all known examples of modern law, and I demand..."

"I'm a medieval man, in case you don't know, so modern law doesn't apply to me!" Igthorne reached into the cage and furiously squeezed Owl's beak shut, "Would you prefer to be liquidated now instead!?"

"Most assuredly not," Owl mumbled between the duke's fingers.

"Good. Lift me up; I'm going to claim my throne in style!" Igthorne shouted to two nearby green ogres, who lifted him onto a royal litter and carried him through the portal with his troops. "Uh, _Undrite, Acrite, Oodrite!"_ the orange ogre aimed Zummi's medallion at the portal and walked towards it. The medallion's former owner shook his head sadly inside the cage. "This is bad, this is bad, this is bad," he mused grimly.

"And there's nothing you can do, even though you're a magician?" Roo asked him.

"Not without my medallion," the purple bear gestured at it in the ogre's hands, "And there might be too many of them to make much of a difference anyway."

"And where's your relatives, Owl?" Gopher scanned the empty skies above them, "You swore they'd be arriving about this time, and I thought owls were punctual as well as wise!?"

"Well," Owl scanned the sky himself, "I can only guess that the wind died down over the last few hours more than I thought. However, I see no reason why they still shouldn't receive my letters and be on their way."

"Well I hope they hurry," Grammi said, also watching the procession outside glumly, "Otherwise Dunwyn's probably as good as doomed."


	10. Owl the Help They Can Get

"Hurry up with the arrows, men; no telling when they'll be back," came the shouts from atop the battlements as Pooh and the other crept along the side of Dunwyn Castle in the darkness. "If they think arrows can stop what Igthorne's got in store for them come sunrise, it'll be a pretty short battle," Gruffi shook his head grimly. "Any ideas yet?" he grilled Pooh.

"Hmm, still thinking. Think, think, think!" Pooh tapped his hand off his head, "Oh bother; still nothing."

"I still say this is a job for the Masked Offender," Tigger declared, "Just let me find the hero suit, and I'll give the duke a taste of medicine he'll never forget!"

"Hooooo-ray. We're saved," Eeyore mumbled with a roll of his eyes. His expression turned to a deep frown when Piglet pushed aside part of a bush to reveal a still unconscious Kessie. "Should have known it was going to end bad for someone," he mused grimly.

"No, she's still breathing," Piglet put an ear to her chest, "I just hope this isn't as good as it ever gets for her," a deeply worried look crossed his face.

"Same here, Piglet," tears back in his eyes, Rabbit took hold of the bluebird and squeezed her close to his chest. "Rabbie's here, Kessie; I'll stay here with you," he mumbled regretfully. "Let's find the king and see if we can get through to him this time."

"Can't see what good that'll do at this point," Gruffi mumbled, nonetheless pushing open the entrance to a Gummi tunnel nearby, "But let's see what we can do. Come on, everyone; fifty gold pieces says he's in Calla's room, keeping watch."

"How do you know?" Piglet inquired.

"Believe me, Piglet, he's there, I know," Rabbit said with another sad glance down at Kessie in his arms. He brought up the rear as the group weaved their way down the tunnel and up to the upper levels of the castle. Soon enough, the king's voice could be heard-as too, encouragingly, was Calla's. "...swear I feel all right, Father; I want to help defend the castle!" the princess was insisting firmly.

"Calla dear, you've suffered a bad concussion; even if this was a job for a young girl, you're in no shape to be in this fight right now," the king could be seen shaking his head firmly once everyone reached the grating into Calla's room, "Now please just lay here and rest up. I'll defend you to my dying breath, I promise."

"But you always say a princess and future queen should be there for her people at all times; I need to be out there fighting with you, concussion or no concussion; please can't you see that!?" Calla remained defiant.

"I'm sorry, but that's final. I'm asking as your father for you to stay here and rest," there was great firmness in Gregor's voice.

"Father...!"

"This conversation is over, Calla," he turned away and walked towards the window, to stare glumly out into the darkness. "Seven hundred years...is the kingdom fated to end with me?" he asked himself out loud, "This wasn't what I wanted."

With a deep sigh, he turned and trudged over to a large tapestry on the bedroom wall, featuring a man, woman, and infant-and the man looked very much like the king might have in his younger years, Pooh thought. "Oh Eleanor," Gregor lowered his head, tears starting to form in his own eyes, "Eleanor, what am I supposed to do!? I wish you were here now to give me advice; you always were a rock when I needed it."

"She'd want me to be fighting with you, Father; that's what she'd say!" Calla demanded with a furious expression, starting to climb out of bed. Her father turned to admonish her again, but Sir Tuxford came in the door before he could. "Just finished the inspection, Sire; we have every able bodied man drafted into service to watch all the ramparts," he informed the sovereign.

"Any luck with the drawbridge?" Gregor inquired.

"Still stuck fast, Sire," his head knight shook his head, "We've tried everything we could find..."

"Keep trying, Sir Tuxford. I'd like to get all the women and children out before Igthorne tries any attack; if Dunwyn falls, I want only active combatants to fall here," the king ordered him, shaking his head, "All right, I'm coming out to take personal charge-but if you could spare a knight or two to make sure Calla stays safely in here, please do so."

"Got a couple right out here, Sire; see to the princess's safety, men," Sir Tuxford instructed two knights standing outside.

"Father, this is ridiculous! You can't hold...!"

"It's for your safety, Calla, and because I love you. Now stay here, please!" Gregor said with strong finality, walking out the door. It closed behind him with a loud bang. Roaring in rage, Calla hurled her pillow into the wall. "This is not how a princess is supposed to help her kingdom!" she bellowed out loud, slumping down on her bed.

"Um," Pooh rapped hard on the grating, "If it's all right, princess, it's us; can we come in?"

"Huh? Oh, it's you again," Calla saw them at the grating. She pulled it open to let them into the room. "Any sign of Igthorne?"

"No, we lost him," Rabbit shook his head, "Are you feeling all right? I wasn't there when the rocket hit, but I heard..."

"I'm fine, see!" Calla snapped, waving at herself, "And I need to be out there with Father protecting the kingdom, like a real future ruler should, not stuck up here like a prisoner! Where does that tunnel come out?" she gestured at it.

"By the base of the castle, but I don't know if you'd fit in it," Piglet squinted at the opening, which did admittedly look a little small for a human. His gaze fell towards the tapestry on the wall. "Is that...I mean, is it...?"

"Yes, that's my mother," the anger faded from Calla's face, replaced with deep regret. She approached the tapestry and put a hand on her mother's image. "Eleanor of Aquatonia. Father fell in love with her during a summit between our kingdoms; his father wanted him to marry another princess, but he loved her too much and held out until he was granted permission to wed her instead. I'm told he was at his happiest with her. I wish I could have seen it myself, or known her more..." her head slumped against the tapestry, "The plague claimed her when I was two. I really don't remember anything about her, and you can image how much that hurts, not to know your own mother. I'm told Father almost lost the will to go on after she died; he says I was the only thing that kept him going. I'm glad I did, but..."

Her memories were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Calla, it's me," it was Cavin. Cubbi breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, he's all right," he whispered as Gruffi gestured him and the others into hiding under the bed before the door swung open. Cavin, however, was not one hundred percent either; his ribs were heavily taped up, and he was walking with a limp-perhaps not surprising given what he'd gone through earlier in the day. "We've got to keep watch up here for the Igthorne when he comes; Sir Tuxford wouldn't let me join the other pages on the ramparts after what happened earlier, so we should at least do something up here," he told her, grimacing from each step.

"See, Princess, you're not a prisoner," Gruffi said, scuffling out from under the bed once it was clear the guards outside weren't coming in or listening in, "This isn't a sentence, this is an opportunity for you to..."

"Well I still say it's unfair," Calla wasn't moved, "We need to do more. Any ideas?" she asked all the animals.

"I still say let the Masked Offender ride again!" Tigger stuck by his original idea, "Let me take on those bad guys one by one; I'll make them wish they'd never been born after I give them a big HIIIIIII-YAAAAAHH!" he made a karate-like gesture into the wall-which knocked a large pot off the shelf right onto Rabbit's head. "TIGGER!" he bellowed, his voice muffled inside the pot, "This Masked Offender business has gone on long enough! I demand you...!"

"Wait, Rabbit," Pooh's face was unexpectedly lighting up, "I think I might have an idea. One that might even be good..."

The doorknob started turning, cutting him off and sending he and everyone else scurrying under the bed again-except for Rabbit, whom Calla and Cavin hurled under after pulling the pot off his head. "What's going on in here, princess?" a knight stuck his head in, "All the banging and shouting..."

"Uh...Calla and I were just pretending we were fighting Igthorne, and knocked this pot down by accident," Cavin explained quickly.

"Oh. Well be easier about it; after what happened earlier, who knows what loud bangs around here are anymore," the knight advised them, withdrawing and closing the door again. Both children breathed large sighs of relief. "What, what's your idea, Pooh?" Cavin pulled him back out from under the bed.

"Yes Pooh, what did you come up with?" Piglet asked his best friend, squirming out himself.

"It's a silly idea, Piglet, but I guess that makes it the right idea for a Bear of Very Little Brains like me. Do you remember when Christopher Robin took us to see...?" Pooh whispered the rest of his idea in Piglet's ear. His expression brightening, Piglet whispered the whole plan to Rabbit, who was coming out from under the bed next. Rabbit's expression also brightened. "I never thought I'd say it, Pooh Bear, but that just might be a brilliant idea on your part for once," he declared, putting an arm around Pooh.

"Well, what is it?" Calla asked impatiently.

"Well..." Pooh waved her and everyone else close and related his idea to them all. "Why that's brillianty, Pooh Boy!" Tigger exclaimed with a triumphal bounce, "If I didn't know any better, I should have thought of it myself!"

"Wonder why you didn't? Well, it probably's going to fail miserably, but since I'm here, and it's for a great cause, might as well go along with it," Eeyore lamented, "If, that is, we can get out of here and get set up in..."

Suddenly a loud explosion rang out outside the window, rattling the tower hard. "Hey, it's not sunrise yet!" Tummi protested, hanging on to the corner of Calla's bed to keep from falling over.

"Looks like Igthorne didn't care; we've got company out there!" Gruffi glanced out the window, where, in the light of the flames from the granary burning next to the tower, hundreds of armed silhouettes could be seen on the other side of the castle moat, "The attack's starting now whether Dunwyn's ready or not!"

Another massive explosion rang out on the other side of the castle, once again shaking Calla's room hard. "FIRE!" came the order from across the moat, followed by the screeching of boulders soaring through the air. "Oh d-d-d-dear, we're too late anyway!" Piglet lamented.

"Maybe, Piglet, but we still have to try to win the day. It is, after all, the Gummi Way-am I right?" Pooh turned to the Gummis for confirmation.

"You said it, Pooh Bear!" Cubbi said proudly, drawing his wooden sword, "Let's go do this and save Dunwyn!"

"And I'm helping with this no matter what anyone says!" Calla emphatically dropped to her hands and knees and tried to squeeze through the grating. Cavin gave her a strong enough push from behind to make it through, then sucked in his breath to fit through himself. "I think I know where to start," he told the others, "We just have to figure out how to lure them up there..."

* * *

"It time to liquidate prisoners yet?" the purple ogre standing in front of the cage by the brook asked his orange partner.

"Guess so," the orange ogre nodded, "This going to be fun; dukey going to be proud of us that we handle this right."

He marched off towards the brook. "Time to go bye-bye," the purple ogre taunted his prisoners inside, "Too bad you not going to see Dunwyn fall and..."

"Here we go. Preparing to be liquidated!" the orange ogre had returned-and he was clutching a bucket overflowing with water, which he now threw in Grammi and Zummi's faces. "Um, that how you liquidate prisoners?" the purple ogre frowned.

"Me not know," his partner shrugged, "That seemed like best way to do it..."

"Well, while you gentlemen are figure out the best way to do this," Owl spoke up, his eyes darting over to the mess area of the ogres' camp, "I should remind you it is customary for prisoners who are about to be liquidated to receive a last meal, am I right, everyone?"

"Oh...oh yeah," Grammi had followed his gaze, "In fact...I'd like to have those eggs there myself," she pointed at a frying pan sizzling with eggs over a still burning campfire.

"Gee, is that how it works?" the orange ogre asked.

"I'll check dukey's book of rules of warfare; you get last meal ready in case that how it goes," the purple ogre sauntered off to check. The orange ogre, meanwhile retrieved the frying pan and carried it over. "Here last meal, Gummi lady," he handed it through the bars to Grammi.

"Much appreciated, sir," Grammi took the pan off him...then reared her arm back and walloped the ogre hard over the head with it. Groaning, the ogre sank to the ground with a dazed expression. "Sunni, get his keys!" Grammi ordered the yellow bear, who reached out through the bars of the cage. "Got them!" she seized hold of the keys and yanked them away from the ogre.

"Good. Give them here and give me a lift up to the keyhole," Gopher leaped on top of Sunni's shoulders and took hold of the keys. Reaching around to the lock, he inserted the key and turned it. "Bingo!" he exclaimed as the cage door slid open.

"Hey, what going on here!?" the purple ogre unfortunately chose this moment to return. "Oh no, you not go anywhere! You staying...!" he suddenly stopped and glanced skywards, where a loud rushing sound was building rapidly. "Ah yes, perfect timing. My relatives have shown up exactly when needed," smiling, Owl stepped out of the cage. "Uncle Torbit, if you could remove this hulking brute from the equation, that would be a good start," he called up towards the huge flock of owls of all sizes and ages descending towards the brook.

"Right-o," shouted down the distinguished owl at the head of the formation, who went into a steep dive towards the purple ogre. Crying out, the ogre turned and ran, but Uncle Torbit caught up to him after five hundred feet or so and lifted him off the ground. "Put me down, put me down!" the ogre screeched.

"Well, if you insist, I suppose I could indeed oblige, good sir," Uncle Torbit released him to fall screaming into the brook well downstream of the Poohsticks Bridge with a loud splash. He then winged around to join the rest of Owl's relatives, well over a hundred of them, landing on the brook's banks. "You won't believe how much everyone wanted to come along when we all got your message that you needed help, and an adventure might be in the offering," he told Owl, landing right next to him.

"And for that, I am eternally grateful," Owl shook his wing, "But we haven't much time either way; the miscreant who wrecked the Hundred Acre Wood," he pointed to the mass damage the ogres had done all around them, "is currently embarking to seize by force the kingdom to which these noble Gummi bears," he pointed at the three bears, "Are sworn to defend. If we don't hurry and join Pooh Bear and the other bears, the kingdom could be lost without a fight, especially with all the weapons and troops they have at their disposal."

"Ooh, a most interesting adventure indeed," hooted the elderly female owl that landed alongside Uncle Torbit, "This reminds me of the time Cousin Cecily decided to join up with the Blue Angels air show. Of course, she had no idea that..."

"Yes, yes, we'll hear that story later; right now, we've got to save Dunwyn!" Grammi interrupted the owl's recollection, "Here, Zummi, your medallion," she tossed it to him.

"Finally, back where it belongs!" Zummi happily slipped the medallion around his neck and waded into the brook. _"Undrite Acrite, Oodrite!"_ he spoke the words to open the portal back to Dunwyn. "Good, no more carpies," he breathed a sigh to see the old Gummi fortress deserted.

"But listen!" Sunni held up her hand. And indeed, a distant loud bang could be heard. "We're too late; Duke Igthorne's already attacking the castle!" she shook her head sadly.

"No we're not, sweetheart," Grammi's gaze fell on the two spare rockets perched by the side of the brook, "There's more than enough Gummiberry juice in there for all of us-if we can just figure out how to get it all back out."

"Well, I built the darn things, and I know how to take them apart," Gopher grabbed a hammer laying on the nearby table and rushed the nearest rocket. "Stand by to catch it," he strained to pull open an emergency release hatch. Sure enough, it cracked open, and Gummiberry juice flowed out. "Great work!" Grammi happily scooped it up in a flask. "Sunni, Zummi, grab some of those canteens there, as many as you can carry," she instructed the other bears. She rushed over to Owl. "Let's just hope Gummiberry juice can make owls fly fast and make them stronger than carpies," she told him.

"I would be more than willing to try it, my good lady, and if not, I shall endeavor to fly as fast as I can in which direction you would wish me to go. Hop aboard," Owl bent down so she could climb on his back. "Cousin Dexter, be so kind as to give Gopher a ride," he instructed the small bespectacled owl at his feet, who indeed scooped Gopher up," Aunt Ophelia, you can handle Mr. Zummi there."

"Just Zummi," the purple bear climbed up on Aunt Ophelia's back, his medallion still trained on the portal. Sunni, in the meantime, climbed into Kanga's pouch with Roo. "Mind if I take a ride here?" she asked them.

"Not at all. I don't think you'll slow us down," Kanga told her.

"Here, drink this," Sunni extended a canteen towards her. Kanga took a sip. "Very strong stuff," she declared, a determined look coming over her face, "All right, hold on, Roo dear, here we go!"

She bounced at lightning speed through the open portal. "I say, this juice is of high caliber," Owl exclaimed.

"Drink as much as you can; all of you too," Grammi told all the owls, while handing Owl one of his own. Owl downed the juice. "I feel like a young owl again," was his own assessment, "All right everyone," he turned to his relatives, "Take a drink and after me; we have a kingdom to save!"

He flew faster than he'd ever flown before through the portal. With loud cheers, the rest of his relatives drank their own rations of juice and followed him through. Aunt Ophelia went last of all, taking Zummi with her. "Keep her nice and steady," he told her, clinging on tight, "Over there; those ogres; get them away from those rockets!" he pointed at the six large green ogres standing by the fleet of rockets at the edge of the cliff with torches in hand, ready to fire them at Igthorne's signal.

"With pleasure," Aunt Ophelia nodded at a half dozen other owls flying in tight formation to her left. They all swooped down, snatched up the dumbfounded ogres before they realized what was going on, lifted them aloft, and dropped them into a lake at the foot of the mountain. "Jood gob...I mean, good job; that at least keeps the doomsday weapons out of play for now," Zummi commended her, his eyes trained on the fireballs rising in the distance over Dunwyn Castle, "We just can't be too late..."


	11. The Dunwyn Clone Wars

"Sir Tuxford, what's going on!?" King Gregor raced up to him atop the parapet overlooking the drawbridge, having to shout to be heard over the crashing of boulders landing amid Dunwyn's main square and the shouts of the knights racing to plug holes in the wall.

"The walls just collapsed, Sire, like somebody knocked them down with brute force, but with big balls of flame" Sir Tuxford pointed at the large holes in the walls on the east and west sides of the castle, which shouting ogres were trying to pour through, "We're trying to hold them off as best we can. And look down there, Sire; it looks like Sir Gawain was right."

"What do you mean...?" the king looked down and gasped. "Giant elephants and weasels!?" he exclaimed, seeing scores of heffalumps and woozles tossing oversized flaming spears over the castle walls, "So...it really was a pair of them that stole the prize money!?"

"Wasn't that what I said all along?" it was Sir Gawain himself, joining them on the parapet, "Now will you be so kind as clear my grandson Cavin so he could join in this fight as well?"

"Yes, I suppose that's the right thing to do," Gregor conceded, "If, of course, we can hold the castle..."

"Sire, look, carpies coming from the west!" a nearby knight cried, pointing at the sky. And indeed, in the light of the burning fires, scores of carpies were approaching the castle with even larger boulders and large bags in their hands. "Oh my," Sir Tuxford blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things, "This does complicate things if Igthorne brought them onto his side...run, Sire!" he pushed the king towards the stairs as the boulders started falling directly towards their location. The bags were dropped as well, releasing clouds of swamp gas that made all the nearby knights drop their weapons and fall to the ground, coughing. Flaming wagons of hay were being catapulted into Dunwyn as well, and had set numerous buildings aflame. "Igthorne, you lying jackal, you said we had till sunrise!" Gregor shouted furiously over the castle wall, coughing from the swamp gas himself.

"What good a tyrant would I be if I actually kept my word, Gregor?" came the duke's almost taunting reply in the darkness, "Are you going to surrender Dunwyn to me, or will your subjects have to suffer more?"

"You can have Dunwyn when the last defender draws his last breath, Igthorne, and not one second earlier!" Gregor thundered back at him.

"Very well. First wave, charge!" Igthorne shouted. Ogres, heffalumps, and woozles started swarming up the walls. "Fall back, fall back!" Sir Tuxford shouted at the knights, "Establish a new line of defense!"

"There's too many ogres here on the east side; they're going to break through!" came the cry from that direction, and indeed, close to two dozen ogres were shoving the last remaining knights in that position aside and rushing forward with clubs raised.

"Fall back to Dunwyn Castle proper!" the king shouted a command to them, "Get all the women and children you can find inside to safety with you! If you can find any exit to get them outside, use it!"

"I'm on it, your Majesty. Follow me, lads; I've fought these battles before!" Sir Gawain took control and waved some of the retreating knights to follow him towards the castle. "Sire, I'd like to get you and the princess out to safety as well..." Sir Tuxford offered.

"No, Sir Tuxford; if Dunwyn falls today, I intend to fall with it, fighting like a man," Gregor drew his sword. "Courage, men!" he shouted encouragement at the retreating knights, "You can still win this day!"

"Down!" Sir Tuxford pushed him down again, just in time for the king to avoid being snatched up by a carpy that was swooping down low over the ramparts. "I hate to be a bearer of bad news, Sire, but I must say I don't like the odds we're facing here," he confessed gravely to his superior, dragging him back towards Dunwyn Castle, "All the courage we've got may not win the day."

"I'm well aware of the odds, Sir Tuxford, and I know they're against us. But we have to fight to the bitter end, for what's right," the king said, his head hanging low. "Something else wrong, Sire?" his head knight asked him.

"Oh, it's just...it may sound silly, Sir Tuxford, but when I was Calla's age, I loved the legends of the Gummi bears. I wanted so much to be like them, to fight nobly for what's right and honorable. And it's times like this, suffice to say, that I wish there really were Gummi bears out there. What I wouldn't give to have one here with us now."

* * *

"How much longer? They're all going to be trapped in the castle real soon!" Cubbi called worriedly from his position at Calla's window, watching Igthorne's forces swarming into the town's market and chasing panicked knights and civilians back towards the castle.

"We're going as fast as we can, Cubbi; this is a lot to set up," Cavin called from the hallway.

"Yeah, good thing I packed everything I did, huh?" Tigger exclaimed happily, bouncing into the room.

"I never thought I'd say it, Tigger, but yes, good foresight," Rabbit begrudgingly commended him. He turned back to the bed and tucked the still unconscious Kessie in. "If I don't make it, Kessie, I want you to know, I...I love you," he mumbled softly, giving the bluebird one more hug.

"I think she knows, Rabbit," Piglet stuck his head in the door, then looked back out again. "Where's Pooh? Weren't he and Tummi supposed to finish the setting up the kitchens by now?"

"I told you that was a mistake to give them that task-and I was right," Gruffi slapped a hand to his head. For Pooh and Tummi, each visibly several pounds heavier, were coming back up the hall, the former clutching about eight honey pots and the latter a multi-layered sandwich reaching over his head. "I told you two to do the job, not get stuffed!" the leader of the Gummis upbraided them both.

"Take it easy, Gruffi; the kitchens are all set up. Pooh and I agreed our efforts deserved a reward, so we rewarded ourselves, and good," Tummi eagerly took a bite out of his sandwich. Gruffi rolled his eyes. "Why do I even bother?" he mumbled out loud.

"I don't know, but Rabbit always asks the same question," Pooh said between bites of honey.

"OK, done down here," Calla called up the hall, "Now we just have to lure them up here."

"Can't think of how we can, and I think we're out of time anyway," Eeyore mumbled from the window next to her. Everyone rushed over to see the portcullis and gates of the castle slamming shut behind the last civilians rushing inside before the ogres in front of the band of attackers could reach them. "All hail the king!" Toadwart's voice rang out as Igthorne was carried into the square on his faux throne. "Ah, I love the smell of chaos and destruction in the morning," the duke declared out loud, sniffing the burning air. "Fellow citizens of Dunwyn, you will henceforth pay tribute to me, your new king," he called up to the castle parapets above him, "My first decree is that every day shall be Monarch's Day from this day forth, so you'd better have the best presents to give to me each morning..."

 _"I_ am still the king in charge, Igthorne, and you'll only have the throne over my dead body!" Gregor defiantly called down to him.

"That can be arranged, Gregor, if you don't surrender now!" his former greatest knight threatened him.

"You have my answer, Igthorne: never! This castle will fight you to the last man!" the king shouted.

"But let's see what you have to fight against what I have. Fire!" Igthorne held a torch to a large refracting mirror behind his throne pointed at the western mountains. Nothing, however, happened. "I said, fire!" he raged, holding the torch closer to the glass. Again, no rockets. "Perhaps the men fell asleep on the job, your patientness," Toadwart suggested.

"I can't believe it! Oh well. Get a carpy or two to take some of the men in reserve to the mountain and see what's going on. In the meantime," Igthorne turned back towards the castle, "Since you've made your decision, Gregor, prepare to reap the consequences! Attack!"

"Charge!" Stan shouted, drawing a sword-seconds before a squad of eager heffalumps charged right over him in their haste to start scaling the castle walls. Stan lurched to his feet-and was knocked down again by a dozen or so ogres who started ramming a massive oak into the doors as a battering ram. "Give them the boiling oil, men!" Gregor ordered the knights holding the large pots by the edge, "That's our best hope!"

The knights started to tip the pots over-but the pots were seized by several carpies, who flew up in the air and casually dumped them over on the castle's defenders to loud agonized screams. The flying creatures hurled the pots down at the knights, scattering them, then swooped down to pick a few up and drop them into the street below, where mace-wielding ogres started towards them. Other carpies started bombarding the castle with boulders, swamp gas, flaming balls of hay, and other weapons, rendering the battlements useless against the intruders rapidly scaling its walls. "Oh d-d-dear, maybe we are too late already," Piglet gulped at the battle swingly wildly in Igthorne's direction.

"Still, Piglet, we have to try," Pooh was still looking determined, "Now all we have to do is get them up here."

"Leave that to me," Calla took her place at the window. "Igthorne, you'll never get away with this!" she shouted down at the duke with over the top indignation.

"Aha!" down below, Igthorne's eyes lit up at the sight of the heir to the throne. "You men, get the princess!" he shouted to a group of ogres already halfway up the wall, pointing to the tower in question, "Gregor might give up the fight if I have her in hand!"

The ogres pivoted to the right and started climbing towards the tower. "All right, this is it," taking a deep breath, Calla stepped away from the window, "I hope this works."

"It'll work, or my name's not T-I-Double-Gah-Er," Tigger declared confidently, "And speaking of which, can't I have the juice now that we're really going to be fighting the forces of not-nicedy-ness?" he begged Gruffi again.

"N-O, again! Gummiberry juice is for bears only," Gruffi told him firmly, "OK bears," he turned to Cubbi and Tummi (who was only about halfway finished his sandwich), "get the juice ready in case-and where are you going!?" he noticed Cubbi trying to sneak off, a package of sorts under his arm.

"Uh...to check the back halls to make sure everything's in place there," Cubbi said quickly. Gruffi eyed the package down suspiciously, but shook his head and mumbled, "All right, but just be careful."

Outside, the ogres climbed rapidly towards Calla's window. "This going to be easy, taking princess without fight," the yellow one in the lead snickered. He reached the windowsill and hauled himself up-but was promptly sent flying by a giant boxing glove on a pole that shot out of nowhere and collided hard with his face. "Huh?" the orange one behind him watched his colleague tumble into the street below with a dumbfounded expression, "What that all about?"

He looked in the window-and was hit by the boxing glove himself and similarly sent flying down into the street. The ogres behind them exchanged worried glances but kept climbing. They reached the ledge, looked up quickly, then ducked down as the boxing glove shot forward again, missing them. A green ogre in the rear grabbed it, broke it off, and tossed it down to the street (where it nailed the two already fallen ogres in the head again). "Surrender, princess!" he shouted, joining his colleagues in leaping through the window...

...where they unfortunately landed on a sea of marbles, slipped, and fell flat on their backs. "This not funny! Where princess at!?" demanded another yellow ogre, waving his club around wildly.

"I believe you can find us out here, if you want to look for us," came Pooh's voice on the other end of the bedroom door. The ogres plowed right through it without opening it-and in so doing ran right into a wide net strung all the way across the hallway. The ogres continued running until the net could stretch no further, at which point they were sent flying backwards at high speed, crashing through the walls and falling to the street themselves. "What's going on up...THEEEERRRRRRE!" Igthorne shouted seconds before all the ogres crashed down on top of him with a loud thud. "All right, care to explain how you came down here so suddenly after I gave you a simple job!?" he hauled himself out from underneath them.

"Looks like princess was expecting us," the yellow ogre explained sheepishly. Igthorne growled in frustration. "Demolition squad, bring down that tower!" he yelled at the heffalumps and woozles with dynamite behind him. They approached the tower and lit the bundles of explosives, but Tummi suddenly leaned out the window, put a large straw to his mouth, and blew out all the fuses. Frowning, they lit them again, but he blew them out a second time. Trumpeting in frustration, one large white heffalump jumped through the window, getting stuck halfway in, blocking easy access to the tower from the outside. "Thanks for volunteering," Tigger bounced over and stuck a target around the heffalump's head. He pointed down to the end of the hall, where Tummi pulled a cord that sent pies flying into the heffalump's face. "Idiot, get out of there, Harv!" furious, Stan, grabbed the heffalump by the rump and tried to pull him out, but he was stuck in place. "Tunnel under, boys," he ordered the other heffalumps and woozles, "We'll come up on them from underneath!"

His comrades produced shovels and started digging at the base of the tower. "In the meantime, throw the dynamite in!" Igthorne ordered the nearest group of ogres, who lit the dynamite batches again, reared back, and hurled them towards the lowest available window. In fact they threw them so hard that the fuses were blown out in transit to the tower. "No, no, no!" an enraged Igthorne hopped up and down in rage. "Break down that gate! Get over those walls! Somebody get me the princess!" he shouted multiple orders at once, his veins palpitating in fury.

"Humble Toadie think Duke-a-mundo needs break," Toadwart applied a wet towel to his boss's face, "Strain of battle having clear bad effect on him."

"I'm just fine, Toadwart! Make yourself truly useful; get me the princess!" Igthorne grabbed Toadwart, thrust him onto a nearby catapult several larger ogres were firing, waved several more heffalumps and woozles onto it as well, and waved for the ogres at the controls to fire. Toadwart and his cohorts were sent flying rapidly through the upper window, landing hard on Calla's bed. "At least brave Toadie have nice, soft landing," the small ogre declared-seconds before Eeyore, hiding behind the bed, pulled a rope that dropped the canopy hard down on top of the intruders. "Bigmouth Toadie speak too soon!" Toadwart groaned, crawling out from under it.

"Happens to the best of us," Eeyore managed to crack a very small smile. "Yiiiiii!" he gulped at the heffalumps and woozles lunging at him. The donkey grabbed the doorknob and pulled it open-which pulled the trigger of the crossbow positioned above it outside and fired the plunger set up on it into the room. The heffalumps and woozles ducked, but the plunger hit Toadwart square in the face. Mumbling muffled phrases, he stumbled around blindly. Eeyore took the confusion to escape up the hall...where he was abruptly walloped by two mattresses that converged from each side of the hall. "OOOOOONK!" he howled in agony.

"Oop, sorry, Eeyore, but can't be too sure with heffalumps and woozles, since they can take any size and shape," Tigger apologetically extracted the donkey from the mattresses.

"Thanks for noticing me," Eeyore mumbled in resignation, "Not to sound panicked, but there's a whole load of them right behind me."

"OK then, help me reset this one," Tigger bounced from side to side in the hall, restoring the trap to its original setting. A large purple woozle rushed towards them, but himself got nailed with the mattresses. Two more woozles pushed around them and leaped towards the tiger and donkey. "Toro, toro, ole!" Tigger merrily whipped aside his Masked Offender cape like a bullfighter, revealing the dumbwaiter which the woozles sailed into and fell down. Down below, Pooh slowly opened the door to the main oven in the castle's kitchen. "I hope this isn't too painful for them," he confessed to Tummi, now enjoying a large bowl of taffy, "I'd hate to cause any lasting harm to anyone, even if they are trying to take over the kingdom."

"I don't think it's too bad. Pass the sugar," Tummi reached for it while repositioning the pipe attached to the dumbwaiter that directed the falling woozles into the now lit oven. Moments later, they popped out of the smokestack, shrieking with their rear ends on fire. Pushing past Pooh, they dove out the window into the moat. "That's not too bad, actually," Pooh looked relieving the woozles had only suffered short term damage, "See if there's any more honey in that cupboard, will you?" he asked Tummi.

"Be glad to...hey, look!" Tummi's gaze had fallen out the window, where distant flying objects could be seen approaching the castle, "The others are coming! Gruffi, to the west; it's the other bears!" he shouted up the window to the Gummis' leader, who was bouncing out of the way of a large heffalump lunging towards him. Gruffi glanced to the west, nodded, and leaped aside to let the heffalump topple face first to the ground. "If I'm not mistaken, that looks like Owl and his relatives with them," Pooh squinted into the early morning light.

"Now the odds are going in our favor," Tummi exclaimed, digging through the cabinets, "This called for some popcorn on top of everything else."

* * *

"Gruffi, it's us," Grammi waved towards her brown cohort atop Dunwyn's battlements in the distance. "Head over there," she directed Owl.

"Certainly, my good lady...oh my, it appears though we have some opposition, though," Owl gestured with his beak at the wall of carpies that swiftly formed in front of the castle and flapped menacingly towards the owl air force.

"We'll have to lure them off; we need to get there to link up with the other bears," Grammi pressed him, breathing worriedly at the oncoming carpies.

"Leave it to us, Madame Grammi," Uncle Torbit declared from Owl's left. "I hope you don't mind if I hand you off to someone else, though," he looked down at Kanga, Roo, and Sunni in his talons.

"Just be careful with it," Sunni gulped at the steep fall to the ground below.

"Cousin Cassandra, if you shall," Uncle Torbit called to the owl in front of him, who dropped back and gripped a hold of Kanga's shoulders. Uncle Torbit released her when she was held tightly. "Uncle Robert, take the left squadron; Uncle Aloysius, take the right. The rest of you, for all that owls hold good and just, full speed ahead!" he shouted, flying at high speed towards the approaching carpies.

"Force them out of the sky!" the Carpy King himself was leading the counterattack. Roaring, he swung at Uncle Torbit with his sceptor, but missed. Soon carpies and owls were flying in wild circles all throughout the sky, swiping and snapping at each other. Owl dove low underneath the pitched battle. "Where shall I drop you off?" he asked Grammi.

"Right there on that battlement," Grammi pointed to the one Gruffi was standing on just to their right, about a half mile ahead, "Just get me close enough, and I can take it from there."

"As you wish. Aunt Ophelia, Aunt Cassandra, Cousin Dexter, follow me," Owl waved at his relatives who were carrying the other Gummis and Hundred Acre Wood denizens. They swooped down to a lower altitude as well-but two carpies were right on their tail. "Down you go!" one grabbed hold of Kanga's legs and tried to pull her out of Aunt Cassandra's grasp.

"No you don't!" Gopher took off his miner's helmet and flung it at the carpy, hitting him in the face and making him back off. The other swooped towards Cousin Dexter and swiped at Gopher, trying to knock him off. "Hate to do it this way, but..." Gopher seized the carpy's claw when he swiped again and bit it, making him howl and retreat. "Let's see if this stuff works for gophers, too," he pulled out his own flask of Gummiberry juice, downed it, then managed to grab another advancing carpy in midair, swing it around over his head, and hurl it down towards the ground. "Yep, it works," he slapped his hands together in satisfaction.

"Indeed well done, Gopher," Owl zipped abruptly upwards, allowing two more carpies closing in on him from each side to collide and spiral to the ground themselves, "That maneuver reminds me of when Grandfather Hiram decided to become a tractor pull competitor. Of course, he thought that meant that one took the tractor directly in wing and hauled it up the course; suffice to say, when he..."

"Hold her steady, here we are," Grammi noticed they were now directly above the battlement, "Gummis ready," she called to Sunni and Zummi, standing up on Owl's back, "Juice ready," the three of them downed their current rations of Gummiberry juice, "And here we go!"

The three of them dove down towards the battlement, bouncing on the stones and knocking Gruffi over. "Thanks for not saying hello!" he snapped at them, watching them bounce towards several ogres swinging clubs at a cornered Rabbit on the other end and bouncing on their heads to get their attention, "But at least you're all right..."

"Bombs away!" came Roo's excited cry from above. Gruffi looked up just in time to be flattened by a falling Kanga, who hopped over to the edge and gave a woozle cresting the wall a hard whack with her tail, sending him falling down to the square. "You all right?" Roo leaped from his mother's pouch and hopped over to him.

"Oh sure, never better, little kangaroo...kangaroo? Sure, why not?" Gruffi shrugged, accepting that two kangaroos had just arrived on the scene, "But at least nobody else will drop in..."

He was abruptly bounced hard by Tigger, who'd arrived undetected on the rampart. "Hiya Gruff, we got 'em on the run downstairs!" the tiger proclaimed in delight, "And look, everybody else made it safe and sight!" he grinned at Kanga and Roo on the edge of the battlement, and Owl and Gopher now landing on the roof as well.

"Good to see you too, Tigger, I think," Gopher hopped off Cousin Dexter's back, "By the way, what's the plan here?"

"Don't bounce Gruffi anymore, that's the plan!" the Gummi bear groaned, struggling with effort to finally get back to his feet. "Zummi, if you've got the medallion back, give us some magic that works," he glanced over the side to see several large heffalumps about to reach the top.

"I got a ood gone...I mean, I good one. _Fippup, drippup, slippup!"_ Zummi pointed his fingers at the walls, which were immediately covered with grease. The heffalumps slipped and lost their grip, sliding down on top of the woozles climbing up below them. "It actually worked; I don't believe it," Gruffi was amazed.

He ducked as an ogre sailed over his head towards the cobblestones below. "That'll learn you!" Grammi shouted down after him, bouncing to a stop next to Gruffi. "Where's Cubbi?" she glanced around worriedly, "I don't see him.

"Ran off somewhere; hoping not doing anything stupid. I think we managed to turn the tide a little bit here, but this battle's not over yet," Gruffi glanced down at the street below, where the ogres were still ramming the castle's doors with their battering ram, and heffalumps and woozles were still trying to breach the walls, "And if Igthorne launches any of his rockets at the castle, anything we do might be moot."

"We did get crid of the rew...I mean, rid of the crew," Zummi told him, "So right now they're all just sitting up there on the mountain, useless."

"Good. Those owls all with you?" Gruffi asked Owl, pointing up at his relatives still in pitched air battle with the carpies.

"Indeed they are, my good sir."

"See if they can give us air cover; if we can rain down on Igthorne what he's trying to rain down on..."

A large barrel fell from the sky, dropped by one of Owl's relatives while fighting with a carpy. "Oh boy, the bouncing juice!" Tigger recognized the contents leaking from it without hesitation. "Hey Roo, come here, you've got to try this stuff out!" he called to his little friend, who was eagerly bouncing behind his mother as she delivered more tail shots to Igthorne's troops once they crested the walls, "This make you bounce higher than you can imagine!"

"No, don't give him any of that!" Gruffi swiped for the barrel, but Tigger pulled it out of his reach, yanked the cork out of the top, and chugged as much of the Gummiberry juice as he could. "Yes, yes, I feel it coming on!" he declared happily, "Here, Roo, give it a try!"

He handed the barrel to the kangaroo. Roo drank as much as he could too. "This tastes great, Tigger, and it feels great!" he flexed his leg muscles.

"Well what are we waiting for!? Let's bounce the stuffing out of these guys! HOO HOO HOO HOOOOO!" Tigger leaped a good fifty feet in the air and landed hard on top of a green ogre about to crest the battlement, knocking him off his perch. He bounced higher still, soaring high over the castle, and repeated the maneuver on the heads of the next several ogres down the wall. Roo did the same on the nearest group of woozles, knocking them down as well. "Look at me go, Mama!" he shouted happily to Kanga on the edge of the castle wall.

"That's nice, Roo dear, just be careful and don't go too high," Kanga gave him a wave, then rolled onto her back and gave a pair of heffalumps climbing over the edge kicks to the face that knocked them down too. Tigger and Roo bounced through the thick smoke and gas surrounding the castle, making them largely invisible to anyone watching from inside, knocking down as many of Igthorne's men as they could manage. "HOO HOO HOO HOOOOOOO!" Tigger shouted again as he knocked down a particularly large heffalump about to reach the spot where King Gregor was personally hurling fragments of boulders at the attackers below. The king looked up in surprise. "Hoo hoo hoo hoo?" he repeated in confusion, squinted into the smoke, "What could that be all about? What's going on out there?"

"I don't know, Sire, but it looks like the tide's turned over there on the left," Sir Tuxford pointed to the tower in question, where ogres, heffalumps, and woozles could be seen falling to the ground in rapid succession.

"Indeed it does. Courage, men; we're holding strong against them!" the king shouted more encouragement to every knight in earshot, "A little harder, and we'll win the day!"

* * *

"Regroup, regroup!" Igthorne bellowed in frustration at his troops stumbling around in the street from their high altitude falls, "I can't believe a group of stupid forest animals are making this much of fools out of you all!"

"Dukey," an orange ogre was being dropped to the ground by a carpy, "Rocket launch team dropped in lake by owls. Them climbing back up mountain, but only about halfway up."

"They won't be back up in time. Toadwart, make yourself useful for once," Igthorne grabbed hold of the small ogre, stumbling around behind him with the plunger still stuck to his face, "Take this wiring up to the mountains and rig it up to something I can use to launch the rockets here," he shoved several large coils of wire into Toadwart's hands and handed him to the carpy.

"Noble Toadie carry out Dukey's orders to the U...or is it the S?" Toadwart mumbled behind the plunger. The carpy carried him up into the sky and winged him towards the western mountains. "We've broken through!" came a shout from the heffalumps inside the tunnel they and the woozles had been digging under the tower.

"We'll take charge," Stan called in, taking Heff by the trunk, "Now they're all going to pay for making fools of us."

"And you'd better not screw it up, or you're demoted!" Igthorne warned them. Stan paid him no heed. "One side, boys, the general's coming through," he waved the other heffalumps and woozles aside inside the tunnel. He and Heff crawled up through the hole into the tower. "Gee, I can't see a thing," Heff remarked, and indeed the room they were in was pitch black. "I'd better get some light for us."

He struck a match-revealing they had entered the room into which the ogres had thrown all the dynamite that had been blown out by the force of their throws. "HEEFFFFFFFFFF!" Stan's horrified scream came a split second too late, before a colossal explosion made the tower shudder on its foundation. Outside, Igthorne stomped the ground in fury. "Can't I find anyone who isn't an idiot!?" he raged at no one in particular. He seized the megaphone from the ground. "You, Gargantua, break down this castle gate now!" he shouted towards Wooster outside Dunwyn's walls.

"Wooster... _cough_...doesn't respond to brute name calling," Stan, heavily charred, staggered out of the base of the tower. He took the megaphone from the duke and climbed up to the outer walls. "Oh Wooster, I know where the honey is now," he called out to his giant colleague, "The mean people in here are hoarding it; we need you to smash their castle to pieces for us so you can have it."

"HONEY!" came Wooster's eager voice from outside, followed by the thuds of his footsteps approaching Dunwyn. "There. Problem solved. Your castle's coming down," Stan gave Igthorne a thumbs up.

"Good. Now get in there and get me the princess-and those wretched Gummis," Igthorne pointed at the hole down into the tower.

"Back in there?" a similar charred Heff stared worriedly at the hole.

"NOW!"

* * *

"Just about done, Piglet," Pooh dipped a brush into a jar labeled GLOO and spread some along the floor in front of him, "There, we're done. They'll come in here and get stuck nicely in place."

"Well, that's all good and well, Pooh, but there's one question: how will we get out?" Piglet asked with concern, staring at the floor. For Pooh had unknowingly painted Piglet and himself into a corner with the glue. "Oh bother," Pooh frowned, "I just knew I was forgetting something with this."

"Well let's figure out a way out qu-qu-quick!" Piglet gulped to see a swarm of heffalumps and woozles rounding the corner in front of them. The faux elephants and weasels charged towards them, but got stuck well in the glue. "No need to worry, Piglet, they can't get to us," Pooh reassured him.

"YIIIIII!" Piglet screeched, ducking at the sight of a large blue heffalump leaping over the others at him. Pooh ducked as well, and the heffalump smashed through the wall, leaving a large hole in it. "See, Piglet, there's our way out," Pooh pointed at it with a smile.

"But how will we get down?" Piglet glanced worriedly at the steep drop to the courtyard below.

"I say, do you need a lift, Pooh Bear?" it was Owl, flying in front of the window.

"Why certainly, Owl," Pooh told him, letting him pick Piglet and himself up and carry them away from the stuck-fast heffalumps and woozles. "Are we winning?" the bear asked, scanning the heavily active battlefield beneath them.

"At the very least, Pooh Bear, we've blunted these deviants in their assault," Owl informed him, "My relatives are giving those flying beasts a run for their money, thus eliminating their air cover," he pointed at the owls above them, still in pitched battle with the carpies, "And the Gummi bears have taken to the ogres like a..."

"Pooh!" came a sudden but familiar cry in the air to their left. Pooh smiled happily at the sound. "Why Kessie, you're all right!" he greeted the now awake bluebird flying towards them, sweeping her into his arms.

"I just woke up. I want to help defend this place. Where's Rabbit?" Kessie looked around worriedly for her guardian.

"Oh d-d-d-dear, he's in trouble up there!" Piglet exclaimed, pointing up at the nearest tower. There, Rabbit was standing alone, blasting sprays of bug poison from his garden sprayer at the dozen or so carpies ominously circling around them. Those unlucky enough to be in the path of the bug spray coughed and retreated, but others quickly took their place, and it was now that Rabbit ran out of spray. "Oh my, oh my!" he gasped, pressing the sprayer's plunger frantically to try and force more out, to no effect. Grinning menacingly, one of the carpies landed right in front of him and casually flicked him off the battlement with one talon. "Rabbit!" Kessie frantically swan-dove towards him, managing to grab hold him inches from the ground and deposit him more gently on the gravel. Rabbit looked up in confusion. "Where's the impact?" he asked, glancing around the courtyard, "I thought I thought I was...?"

"There's not going to be an impact, Rabbit," Pooh said with a smile as Owl put he and Piglet on the ground next to Rabbit, "Just like with the rubber band on the cliff, Kessie caught you in time."

"Kes-!" Rabbit's eyes went wide in delight, shooting around. "Kessie, you're all right!" he excitedly repeated Pooh's words, hugging his ward close with relieved delight, "I thought I'd lost you!"

"I just woke up. I'd like to say..."

"No, let me say it first," Rabbit held her up to his face, "You were so brave rescuing Pooh earlier. I'm...I'm proud of you, Kessie, both for that and helping me just now. I..."

"Pooh," it was Calla and Cavin from the nearest doorway. "We've got it set up in here; we just need to lure them in," the page explained to the bear and his friends when they rushed over.

"No problem there, for here they come," Owl pointed at a furious Stan and Heff leading a contingent of ogres, heffalumps, and woozles over the wall not more than fifty feet behind them. "Get them!" Stan pointed at them-and was promptly trampled by his surging troops again.

"Down here, some cover if you shall," Owl called up to his relatives above. A half dozen or so swooped down and started flying circles around the villains, distracting them enough to allow most of the heroes to slip inside. "Owl, take Kessie and me up to the far end of the building; I've got a great weapon stored there for them," Rabbit told him, rubbing his hands deviously.

"You mean I can help?" Kessie looked excited that he would let her.

"Of course; you're grown up now, aren't you?" Rabbit told her knowingly. Owl picked them up and flew them out of sight. "Get, get out of here!" Stan, meanwhile, swiped away the owls from himself. "Heff, ram that door down!" he told his partner, pointing at the door in question. Heff lowered his head and charged right through it. "There, there's the princess!" he exclaimed at the sight of a blond-haired figure at the end of the hall. He jumped for it and grabbed hold of it-only to have it stretch out on a spring and snap back, sending Heff flying backwards, smashing Stan hard into the wall when he came into the room. "Get off of me!" the woozle bellowed in a rage.

"Sorry, Stan," Heff apologetically peeled him off the wall, "I get fooled by a dummy up there."

"It's not the only dummy here!" Stan glared at him. "Spread out and find them!" he ordered his command, "Half of you go that way, the other half go that way. Heff, come with me, and let me do the thinking."

"Sure thing, Stan; just let me have a quick honey snack first," Heff sniffed the air, smelling the aroma of honey coming from a nearby room. With a dopey smile, he practically danced towards it. "No, Heff, don't, it's an obvious...!" Stan cried too late before a loud snap rang out. "...trap!" the woozle groaned, slapping a hand to his face in disgust.

"How was I supposed to know!?" Heff slouched out of the room, a giant mousetrap stuck to his trunk. Stan yanked it off him furiously. "Come on, we'll go with the left flank," he grabbed Heff by the trunk and dragged him up the hall, "And no honey breaks till we have them!"

* * *

"Cere they home...I mean, here they come," Zummi cocked his ear towards the sound of villains coming up the hall.

"OK, get ready," Calla waved him and everyone else nearby towards the large statue now perched on the edge of the railing overlooking the central keep. "Ready, ready...now!" she gave the command once several ogres charged through the doorway. She and everyone else shoved the statue off the railing, which pulled up the net the ogres were running over, trapping them inside several feet off the ground. Good work. Standby on the knights," she waved to Sunni by a rope attached to several suits of armor set up in two lines along the opposite entrance to the hall. "And, now," she waved her hand once several more ogres charged in through the suits. Sunni pulled the rope, causing the suits to bring the hammers they were holding down hard on the ogres' heads. Dazed, the ogres slumped to the ground. "Yes, we did it!" Sunni pumped her fist in delight.

With loud growls, a squad of heffalumps and woozles rushed into the room, shoving suits of armor aside. "Up here, Sunni, up here!" Zummi waved her up the stairs, taking his place at the top. _"Triceit, riceit, iceit!"_ he gave another incantation once she was safely at the top, coating the entire stairs with a layer of ice. The huffalumps and woozles slipped and slid like crazy and fell head over heels down the stairs to the bottom, landing in a heap atop a large rug. "Now!" Zummi shouted up to Gopher near the ceiling. Gopher rapidly chewed through the rope attached to the chandelier, which fell to the ground, pulling the rug up as it did so and entrapping the heffalumps and woozles inside. "That's a good way to even to the odds here a bit, taking them out of the fight like this," Gopher declared, scampering down the wall, "The less we..."

"Oh my gosh, what is that!" Calla unexpectedly shrieked, pointing out the window, where thuds could be heard, deafeningly loud. "That? Oh, that's just Wooster," Pooh, however, smiled at the sight of the giant woozle lumbering towards the castle, arrows and flaming lances thrown by the knights guarding it bouncing harmlessly off him, "The heffalumps and woozles probably invited him for honey after they won the battle-which, thanks to us, they're not doing right now."

"But he'll wreck the castle and let Igthorne win!" Cavin argued, gulping at Wooster smashing his fists into the castle wall, sending stone and mortar flying.

"Then we'll just have to give him enough honey to make him stop being so unfriendly. Can you magically create enough honey for a giant woozle?" Pooh asked Zummi.

"Oh my, well, I don't know if there's a honey making spell in here, but I'll see what I can find," Zummi shuffled quickly through his spell notes.

"This way to the courtyard; we should be there if he breaks through anyway," Sunni waved he and Pooh down the hall. "Down here, let's lead whoever comes next to Rabbit," Calla set up at the top of the stairs and slid down the ice to the bottom. Everyone followed, reaching the bottom just as Stan and Heff led the remaining heffalumps and woozles into the room. "Surrender now!" Stan bellowed at them.

"Can't catch us!" Cavin stuck out his tongue at them and rushed into the next room with everyone else. "After them!" Stan stepped aside to let his troops rush harmlessly past him. "I learn from my mistakes," he grinned, following them into the room. "All right, now...!" he was cut off as he ran into his men, who'd come to a dead stop. "Now what!?" he pushed past them, "I can't...what is that?" he frowned at the strange contraption in front of them.

"I'm so glad you asked, Mr. Woozle," smiling deviously, Rabbit stepped out from behind it, "Allow me to introduce you all to Tigger's Invention to End All Inventions. It practically wrecked the Hundred Acre Wood when he first invented it, and I'd be glad to show you how terrible a device it is since he managed to bring it along with us somehow. Kessie if you please!" he told the bluebird, who pulled the invention's control levers. A door in the front opened up, releasing several pumpkin-headed drones which set upon assailing the heffalumps and woozles with feather dusters, brooms, plungers, and other tools. Howling, the heffalumps and woozles ran around in a panic, trying to escape the drones. "The full effect, Kessie!" Rabbit grandly requested of her. Kessie pulled some more levers, and the invention lurched around the room, picking up several woozles and scrubbing them against its washing board, whacking several heffalumps with its snow shovels, and otherwise causing them all grief. "That's it, we're outta here!" one woozle screeched in terror, being whacked in the rear by a broom-wielding drone, "This is more punishment than any woozle worth his salt can take!"

"You said it!" a heffalump being plungered nearby agreed. All the heffalumps and woozles rushed for the door, the Invention to End All Inventions and its drones chugging after them. "Get back here, you cowards!" Stan shouted furiously after them, to no avail. "Come on Heff, it's up to us now," he grabbed Heff's hand, "They're escaping out into the courtyard; let's get them!"

He dragged Heff through the door-where they were promptly hit in the head with a shower of horseshoes. "Now who threw...!?" Stan looked up seconds before he and Heff were then nailed with a pair of blacksmith anvils. "Cut that out...!" he started to shout again before a large wagon then fell on the two of them. "Boy, Stan, they've hit us with everything but the kitchen sink!" Heff groaned, crawling out from under the wagon.

"Well, hate to disappoint you, chum!" Tigger called from atop the battlements above, where he in fact threw down the kitchen sink, which cracked over Heff's head. Dazed, Heff fell down, pinning Stan to the ground. "Hoo hoo hoo HOOOOOO!" Tigger shouted in victory, bouncing around, "This is the most fun a Tigger could have in a whole lifetime!"

"Well can your fun figure out how to stop that thing!?" Rabbit pointed towards the castle gate, which Wooster had broken about halfway down by now, "He might not be as menacing as he looks as long as someone makes enough honey for him, but if he breaks through, Dunwyn's doomed!" he pointed at Igthorne's ogres, starting to mass behind Wooster with weapons drawn, ready to storm Dunwyn Castle.

"And I don't think all the Gummiberry juice we've got can stop him either," Cavin admitted, pulling out the comparatively meager flask he had on hand and staring doubtfully at it.

"Then I hope Pooh and Zummi can make enough honey to please...YIIIIIII!" Piglet gasped and jumped aside as Stan and Heff reached the roof. "All right, this heffalump and woozle have had enough!" Stan raged, advancing furiously towards them all, "Don't fight back; we're not in a good mood right now. Just surrender, and get this over with quick!"

"Oh d-d-dear, what do we do, Tigger?" Piglet worriedly turned to the tiger for advice.

"Tell him, 'No way,' Piglet old pal!" Tigger said firmly. Piglet folded his arms across his chest and said, as bravely as he could, "No way, Piglet old pal."

"Then it's curtains for every last one of you!" Stan ominously drew a sword.

"Yeah, come on, give us your best shot!" Tigger raised his fists and started bouncing in place defensively, "We'll show them what we're made of, right Piglet?"

"Uh...I guess we will, Tigger," Piglet said somewhat firmly.

"We're going out fighting to the end, aren't we!?"

"Um...yes, yes we are, Tigger."

"Good. Take care of them for me, will you; it's time for the Masked Offender to make his debut!" Tigger pushed Piglet forward towards Stan and Heff, then bounced off the battlement to safety. Rabbit slapped a hand to his face in disgust, while Piglet started trembling inside Stan and Heff's shadows. "N-N-Now can't we talk about this!?" he whimpered.

"The time for talk is over. Now it's time for victory!" Stan raised his sword high...

"No you don't. You're not hurting Piglet!" Roo bounced forwards in front of him with his hands firmly on his hips. "OH NO, IT'S THE GIANT MOUSE AGAIN!" Heff screeched in terror, running around in a panic, "SAVE ME, STAN, SAVE ME!"

"Heff, will you get a grip!?" Stan furiously grabbed him by the tail and yanked him still, "For once in your life, take a look at the size of this guy!" he pointed out Roo's smaller stature, "Do you really think he could hurt you or anyone!? In fact, I could probably finish him myself with just one swipe!" he raised the sword over Roo now...

"...but you're not going too, because nobody harms my son if I can help it!" Kanga came bouncing out of nowhere to land protectively in front of Roo. **"OH NO, AN** **EVEN BIGGER GIANT MOUSE! HELP, STAN, SAVE ME!"** Heff freaked out, grabbing Stan with his trunk and using the woozle to swipe at Kanga and Roo, who bounced easily out of range each time, causing Stan to be smashed into the stones repeatedly. **"HELP! GIANT MICE!**!" still clutching a heavily dazed Stan, Heff ran in terror away from the kangaroos. "Are you all right, Piglet?" Kanga tapped Piglet, who was bent over with his hands over his eyes, on the shoulder. Piglet looked up. "I, I guess so," he said, looking at the retreating Heff, "But how do we know they won't be back?"

"We can fix that. Zummi," Sunni leaned over the side and called to the purple bear, standing around Pooh by the center of the courtyard, unnoticed by all the knights facing the gate, "Can you cook something up to fix that weffalump and hoozle?"

"I can do better, Sunni, I can rain on their parade on their way out of here. _Formi, thormi, stormi!"_ Zummi pointed his fingers at Stan and Heff. A thundercloud formed over them, dousing them with rain and hitting them in the rear end with repeated lightning strikes. Howling, Stan and Heff leaped into the moat, climbed out, and ran like crazy over the hill out of sight, still being rained and thundered on. "And that's the end of the heffalump and woozle," Roo grinned at their ignominious departure, "Too bad; they were kind of fun to scare."

"Oh d-d-dear, Wooster's almost into the castle!" Piglet pointed to the front gate, which was just about totally demolished now despite King Gregor's personal efforts at leading a still somewhat coordinated defense, "Dunwyn's about to fall!"

"That's not all; carpies come from behind!" Cavin pointed at the Carpy King leading several of his men towards the remains of the gate from behind the king and knights, unseen by them as they concentrated their fire on a still impervious Wooster-in fact, the Carpy King was headed straight for Gregor himself. "FATHER, BEHIND YOU!" Calla screamed desperately at him, but it was too late; the Carpy King grabbed hold of Gregor and quickly tossed him off the battlement, tumbling towards several burning wagons below and almost certain death...


	12. Rocketing to a Final Finish

...when a brown blur and a blue blur bounced out of nowhere and caught him right above the flames. "What happened? I swore I was..." Gregor looked down and gasped. "My word! You're not...you can't be...!"

"Pay no attention to us, your Majesty; we're just pigments of your imagination," Tummi said quickly, trying not to make eye contact with the king.

"Gummi bears!? But...you're not supposed to be real...!" Gregor was stunned.

"Yeah, we get that a lot," Gruffi said, resignation on his face that the king would have found out their existence eventually, "Take him over here, Tummi."

The two bears bounced him over to the base of the nearest parapet. "Father, are you are all right!?" Calla rushed down the stairs and all but threw herself into his arms.

"Yes I am, Calla, and wouldn't you know it, it looks like Gummi bears are real after all!" her father pointed excitedly to Gruffi and Tummi.

"I know...I mean," she shuffled about uncomfortably, "Cavin and I have known for some time, Father. The bears asked us to keep it a secret."

"We can't take chances, after what happened to our ancestors all those years ago," Gruffi told the monarch.

"Well, if you are real, then as long as I'm king, you'll have..."

"Heads up!" Tummi suddenly shouted, pointing upwards. For the Carpy King was diving towards them with claws extended...

...only to be intercepted by a small pink blur wearing red. "You're not harming the king, you overgrown chicken!" it roared, pounding on the Carpy King's head.

"Yes, the Crimson Avenger has arrived to save the day as well!" Gregor declared, "Have you Gummis ever seen...what is it?"

It was Gruffi's turn to look shocked. "I can't believe it!" he rubbed his eyes in disbelief, "CUBBI'S the Crimson Avenger!?"

"Surprised, huh?" Tummi remarked, then quickly slapped his hands over his mouth, realizing he'd said too much. "So you've known all along!?" Gruffi fixed him with a glare, "When were you and Cubbi going to get around to telling the rest of us!?"

"Um..." Tummi stammered for an explanation, but was bailed out by a loud crashing sound by the gate. "Sire, that monster's just about to break through!" Sir Tuxford came rushing around the corner, "We'll need every...!"

He dropped his sword in shock at the sight of Gruffi and Tummi. "Is that...are they...really...?" he stammered, his eyes wide.

"Gummi bears are real, Sir Tuxford!" Gregor told him in delight, "They just saved me now, and I'll bet it was them who turned the tide of battle-Cavin," he greeted the page, coming down the stairs with everyone else, "So you've known that Gummi bears were real all this time?"

"Um," Cavin's eyes shot towards Calla, who gave him a nod that it was all right to admit it now, "Yes, sir, I have. And..."

"HONEY!" came Wooster's hungry shout from around the corner, followed by the pounding of his footsteps. "As I was saying, Sire, that behemoth's in here; what do we do now!?" Sir Tuxford frantically asked his king.

"Oh, Wooster's not a threat, as long as he has honey," Pooh called from behind them. "Have you found the right spell yet?" he asked Zummi, still shuffling through his spell pages.

"Huh? Oh, oh yeah, I think this one'll do it...I hope," Zummi pulled one out of the stack. "Here we go...I think: _Flickup, drickup, stickup!_ " he declared. Sure enough, a gigantic honey pot, filled to the brim, appeared in the middle of the courtyard. "Amazing!" Gregor applauded, "Actual Gummi magic! I wouldn't have believed it if...!"

"Hide, Sire!" Sir Tuxford pulled him to safety behind a stone wall (the Gummis following as well, seeing other knights running towards the courtyard). Wooster stomped into view moments later. "HONEY!" he roared again.

"Right down here, Wooster," Pooh called up, pointing to the pot, "All the honey you could want for the moment."

"POOH BEAR!" a smile crossed Wooster's face. He picked Pooh up in one hand and the honey pot in another, "POOH BEAR HAVE MORE HONEY TO SHARE WITH WOOSTER?"

"Of course, Wooster, it's all yours," Pooh chuckled, "All you have to do is turn around and go back to the Hundred Acre Wood, and its yours."

"You fool, don't listen to him!" the Carpy King, ignoring Cubbi's pounding on his head with his wooden sword, flew right into Wooster's face, "It's a trick! He's in league with the Gummi bears! Destroy him, then destroy this castle!"

"POOH BEAR WOOSTER'S FRIEND! YOU DON'T TALK THAT WAY TO WOOSTER ABOUT HIM!" Wooster grabbed the Carpy King, plucked Cubbi off him, and deposited him on the ground, then hurled the flying tyrant into the wall. "Get him!" the Carpy King shouted to his troops, who dive bombed Wooster. Wooster, however, set Pooh down, picked up large blocks of stone he'd knocked off the castle, and flung them up at the carpies. "Retreat! Back to Carpy Mountain!" one of them screamed in terror. He and his cohorts started flapping desperately away from the castle, an angry Wooster chasing after them with the honey pot still in hand. "No, come back!" Igthorne shouted after them down in the street, to no avail, "You're supposed to work together to help me on this!"

"CHARGE!" came Sir Tuxford's order from inside the castle. The remaining knights rushed out after him with their weapons drawn. "So, you want to fight, Sir Tuxford?" Igthorne defiantly drew his sword, "You were no match for me in that village, and you'll be no match for me now, especially with the forces I still command even now! Get them, men!" he turned...and his jaw dropped to see no more than three or four ogres left behind him, the others having taken off running from both Wooster and the oncoming knights, disappearing over the drawbridge back towards Drekkmore. "Time to get out of here, Dukey!" a purple ogre among those remaining picked him up and started running after the others. "No, put me down! I can still win this!" Igthorne protested, "We've practically got them beaten anyway, you fools; we just need one more bit of good luck...!"

"Dukey, heads up!" came Toadwart's voice from above. Igthorne looked up just in time to be conked on the head with a rudimentary wooden remote control with a large red button and miles of wires trailing out from it into the distance. "Ah, see, one more spot of good luck, men," he flashed Toadwart, circling above on one remaining carpy, a thumbs up, "Put me down!"

The purple ogre obliged. "All right, stop, all of you!" Igthorne shouted at the oncoming knights, who indeed ground to a halt in the middle of the street, "Just one touch of this button," he put his index finger to it, "and I'll launch all of my rockets and turn Dunwyn and every last one of you to rubble for the next five hundred years!"

"You're bluffing, Igthorne!" Sir Tuxford stepped forward, sword extended forward, "Put the device down and your hands up!"

"One more step, Sir Tuxford, and I push the button!" Igthorne warned him, which did bring his former adjutant to a stop, "You wouldn't want to be responsible for more loss of life than at that village, would you?"

"You can't blame what happened to those poor people on me at all, Igthorne; I may not have stopped you, but I did everything I could to save them!" rage plastered Sir Tuxford's face at the unpleasant memory, "Now this is your last warning...!"

"No, it's yours; you and your men throw down your weapons and worship me as king at once, or...!"

"Never fear, citizens; tis I, the Masked Offender, to save the day!" came the jovial cry from atop the battlement. Everyone, Igthorne included, looked up to see Tigger, now fully clad as the Masked Offender swing down on a rope towards the duke...and miss him completely, crashing hard into the town wall. This, however, did distract Igthorne enough for Roo to hop up from behind and grab the detonator out of his hand. "Give that back, you little rat!" Igthorne raged, grabbing for it.

"Can't catch me!" Roo taunted him, bouncing away from him. Roaring, Igthorne pulled out a bag of swamp gas and tossed it towards the knights, incapacitating them with a large cloud of gas, and gave chase to Roo. Roo, however, was able to stay several feet ahead of him. "Here, momma!" he tossed it to his mother, passing by the other way. Kanga pocketed it in her pouch and bounced in the other direction. "Give that to me!" Igthorne lunged and pulled her down from behind-only to see Sunni hop out of Kanga's pouch with the detonator, down a flask of Gummiberry juice, and bounce away. "Get that bear!" the duke bellowed to his remaining ogres.

The ogres lunged for Sunni, but she bounced well out of their reach. Unfortunately, though, she bounced well within range of the carpy circling overhead, who snatched it out of her hands. "I've got it!" he called down to Igthorne.

"In that case, I'll relieve you of it," Owl flew past and took it out of his claw. "Gopher, here," he tossed it to him on the rooftops, "Kindly destroy this if you can."

"With pleasure, Owl," Gopher hefted a large hammer and reared back to smash the detonator-but Toadwart leaped down and grabbed it away. "Mighty Toadie get detonator!" he pushed Gopher aside and held it up triumphantly for his boss to see.

"But not for long!" Cubbi, still costumed as the Crimson Avenger, swung down on a rope and snatched it away from Toadwart. "The Crimson Avenger strikes again!" he declared out loud. But unfortunately, the path of his rope took him straight into Igthorne's chest below. "Why thank you, I didn't know you bears could be so helpful," the duke snickered, pulling it out of his hands and tossing Cubbi roughly into a nearby haystack. "Behold!" he called to the still coughing knights through the now clearing swamp gas, "Dunwyn's doom, starring all of you!"

His finger jammed down hard on the button. From the western mountains came a sound like thunder. "Those rockets will blast this town and everyone inside it to dust in thirty seconds, and there's nothing anyone can do about it!" Igthorne laughed maniacally, spinning in a triumphant circle. "Not even the Gummi...!"

A cacophony of hoots made him turn in time to be bowled over by swarms of Owl's relatives, onto which the Gummi bears, plus Pooh and his friends, were holding on to, rapidly winging towards the oncoming rockets. "No, you're not going to stop me this time! After them!" he shouted at the carpy above, who picked up Toadwart and carried him after the owls. "You, pick me up!" he shouted to the Carpy King, staggering dazedly into the square from his impact against the castle wall, "We've got to stop them from ruining my victory!"

* * *

"Judging by my best calculations, we've got about a minute and ten seconds to destroy every last rocket, or else it's all over!" Gopher shouted out from atop Cousin Dexter's back, his gaze locked on the ten fireballs coming towards the flock of owls.

"And I suppose you know how to do that!?" Gruffi looked unconvinced on Owl's back.

"Simple; just yank out some of the wiring, and it goes off course," Gopher said confidently, hefting his hammer again.

"And my magic ought to do the trick with those we can't get," Zummi declared atop Uncle Torbit.

"Well whatever we do, make it count; we've got just one shot at this!" Rabbit pointed out, nervousness in his eyes at the large prospect of failure for them. "Kessie, if we don't make it, I want you to know, I love you," he told the bluebird next to him on Uncle Robert's shoulders.

"I know, Rabbit," Kessie said with a knowing wink, "After everything you've done for me..."

"OK, hold the mushy stuff; we've got a job to do!" Gruffi cut her off, "Rockets approaching in about thirty seconds; everyone pick one, take some juice, and wreck it as fast as you can!"

"Oh d-d-dear, the duke's still after us!" Piglet exclaimed, pointing worriedly back at the two carpies approaching rapidly from behind, an enraged Igthorne clearly visible on the Carpy King's back.

"Figures," Gruffi shugged in resignation, "You owls try and hold them off till we've got this done, if we can get it done," he shouted to all Owl's relatives, "Everybody ready?"

"No, but might as well do it anyway," Eeyore, held up by four owls, was also looking resigned.

"Three, two, one, jump!" the Gummi bears and Hundred Acre Wood residents downed Gummiberry juice and leaped onto the rockets as they zoomed by, Owl's relatives breaking off to try and hold off Igthorne and the carpies. "Emergency invest hatch...right here!" Gopher spotted the trapdoor on his rocket, wrenched it open with his hammer, and yanked out as many wires as he could manage. With loud zaps and flashes of electricity, his rocket spiraled towards the ground. Gopher leaped to safety on the one next to him. "That's how you do it; do it fast!" he told Tigger and Tummi, standing near the hatch.

"Piece of cheesecake, Gopher; hoo hoo hoo HOOOO!" Tigger bounced down on the hatch to break it open, then bounced back to let Tummi yank out the wiring. The blue bear picked up Gopher and jumped with he and Tigger to the next rocket over, which Owl was sorting through the wires on...

...which the carpy carrying Toadwart now landed on. "Mighty Toadie say surrender now!" the small ogre slid off.

"Too late, pal; we're destroying your fleet," Tummi pointed confidently at other rockets going down and exploding harmlessly in the open fields around them.

"You can't stop them all. Take them for ride!" Toadwart told the carpy, who maliciously started spinning the rocket around in circles. With loud cries, everyone strained to hold on...

...when suddenly, the rocket started slowing. "What happening?" Toadwart was confused, "Rocket not supposed to stop before castle...!"

"Ah, I see what your problem is," Owl was checking the fuel gauge inside the hatch, "Your colleagues didn't fill this one up all the way. It is now out of fuel. Sorry, old boy, this one's not reaching the castle-case in point," he added as the rocket went into a nosedive.

"HELP!" Toadwart started running around in a panic, "Save meek Toadie, Dukey!" he screamed for his boss's aid.

"No need to overreact; to coin a phrase from Mr. Tummi here and his associate, it would not be the Gummi Way to let an innocent perish, even if your heart appears to be as black as it is," Owl casually picked up Toadwart in one talon and Tigger and Tummi in the other, with Gopher climbing up his back, and took flight, as did the other carpy, leaving the empty rocket to explode in the woods below. "I'll still get you!" the carpy swooped towards Owl.

"No you won't. _Fitchburger, Ditchburger, Iceberger!"_ Zummi shouted out an incantation from the nearest rocket that turned the carpy into a penguin. Shrieking, the now carpy/penguin flapped its flippers hard, but could no longer fly, and thus plummeted into the lake below. "I believe that's the place you shall go too," Owl told Toadwart casually, readying him to drop him into the lake as well.

"You still lose; rockets still hitting castle!" Toadwart gloated, pointing at the five remaining rockets bearing down on Dunwyn's walls.

"Zummi, a spell quick!" Tummi begged the purple bear.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking... got it, and we don't have to jump! _Tedsand, quicksand, headsand!"_ Zummi shouted out a quick spell, that turned every missile into giant ostriches. "Wait, that's not right! Ostriches don't fly!" Rabbit protested, hastily pushing the wires that had turned into feathers back into place when the ostrich glared at him.

"Well, it's not going to blow up the castle anymore, Rabbit, so I won't complain," Eeyore remarked behind him, managing a grin as Owl gently released Toadwart to fall into the lake.

"But look, we missed one, and it's going to hit; Grammi!" Cubbi cried to the orange bear, with Pooh on the one rocket that was still a rocket and still hurtling towards the castle. "Oh bother; this hatch is just not going to open!" Pooh lamented, pulling hard on the door, which was stuck tight.

"Then we've got to do something else in ten seconds; bend the wings!" Grammi bounced to the end of the rocket and frantically tugged on the left tail fin. Sure enough, she succeeded in bending it up, which caused the rocket to veer hard to the right, missing Dunwyn's walls. "That'll buy us some time; now we've got to figure out how to stop this thing permanently," she glanced worriedly up the length of the rocket.

"Perhaps if we found something to put the rocket out with, that would do it," Pooh suggested offhand, "If it were raining, perhaps..."

He got no further, for with a loud thud, a furious Igthorne landed on the rocket. "All right, no more Mr. Nice Duke!" he bellowed, pulling out his own bottle of Gummiberry juice and downing it. "I've had it with you bears ruining everything, and you're not ruining this!"

He jumped hard up and down, trying to force Pooh and Grammi in the air and off the rocket. "You realize of course that this rocket is already well off course?" Pooh gripped the nose cone hard, gesturing at Dunwyn receding in the distance dawn behind them.

"It can go back on course just like this!" Igthorne shoved the tail fin back into its flat position. Immediately the rocket back veering back around. "And it only takes one rocket hitting the right place to make me king!"

"Igthorne you snake, you're not going to get away with this!" Grammi bounced high over him, but suddenly slowed and fell flat on her chest on the rocket. "Out of juice now, are we? Too bad. But there's not room enough for more than one bear on this rocket anymore, so, off you go!" Igthorne picked her up and tossed her off. "Don't bother, she's not worth it!" he called to the ostrich flown by Zummi that was diving down to pick her up. "Either way, it's just you and me, you little fool," he advanced menacingly towards Pooh, drawing his sword, "Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. I'm finishing somebody off today, and it might as well be you."

"I'm not afraid," Pooh said bravely, "I may be a Gummi bear descendant, after all, and Gummi bear or not, I'm going to be more than a Bear of Very Little Brains in this, my perhaps last moments."

"You're no Gummi bear; you don't have the smarts for it. And like the lady, off you go!" Ighthorne took a mighty swipe at Pooh, who ducked at the last minute. "Hold still, you stupid bear; I want to gut somebody today!" the duke bellowed, jumping up and down again to try and bounce Pooh off the rocket while swinging wildly with his sword. Pooh glanced backwards; the castle was getting very close again. He had to do something fast, or there was no way he'd survive, either way...

And then, amazingly, it hit him. "All right, duke, you've got me; you can gut me," he declared, laying down directly over where the hatch was.

"Good, maybe you're smarter than you seem. Say your prayers!" Igthorne raised the sword high and swiped it down-but Pooh rolled out of the way at the last minute, causing the sword to cut through both the hatch and fuel lines, which sprayed Gummiberry juice everywhere. "What, what's going on!?" Igthorne stammered, stumbling backwards while blinded by the geyser of juice.

"That was you helping me stop this rocket, duke. So on behalf of the Gummi bears, thank you," Pooh quickly drank up as much of the spraying juice as he could muster and, feeling energized, bounced as high in the air off the rocket as he could. With a screech, the circling Carpy King dove towards him from above, but Pooh bounced into him hard, tipping the creature over and sending him falling onto the missile below, which sputtered as its fuel rapidly ran out and went into a nosedive just a few feet from Dunwyn's walls. "No! No! I'm supposed to win! It's not supposed to end like this!" Igthorne screamed as he plunged down with the rocket. "Get up and get me off this thing!" he cried at the Carpy King, clambering onto his back, but it was too late; the rocket hit the ground and exploded, sending a massive fireball-and a screaming Igthorne-flying sky high, until he was ultimately level with the still ascending himself Pooh. "I'll get you for this, bear!" he roared, reaching out to try and strangle him...

...but took a sudden hammer blow to the head from above that knocked him senseless. "Sorry, this is a no strangling zone," Gopher told the duke slyly. Behind him, Zummi and Grammi hauled both the dazed Igthorne and Pooh aboard their ostrich. "Are you all right, Pooh?" the latter asked him.

"Yes, and while it may sound strange to ask, I wouldn't mind doing what I've just done again-in a non-life-threatening situation, of course," Pooh chuckled, "Because it felt good-very, very good."

"Yeah, you did great, Pooh," smiling, Zummi patted him on the shoulder, "Thanks to you," he turned his beam to Dunwyn Castle, shimmering in the rising sun, "Dunwyn is safe."

"Well, we all did it," Pooh was willing to share the honors, "So I think we all should take a bow for it."

"Indeed. OK Zummi, swing this baby around and head for the back of the castle," Grammi directed him, "Let's drop Igthorne off at the dungeon where he belongs."


	13. Sir Pooh the Great and Gummiful

"...and for the crimes of high treason, enumerated more times than can be counted, Sigmund Igthorne, I hereby sentence you to life in solitary in the dungeon!" Gregor furiously shouted in Igthorne's face. Chained from head to toe, the duke spat contemptuously at his former boss's feet. "You think the dungeons can hold me, Gregor!? I'll be out again before you know, and I'll be back with an even bigger plan to take control of my kingdom!" he threatened the monarch, "This is not the end, this is only the beginning, and I will have my throne!"

"If you escape and take up your path of insurrection again, Igthorne, then the sentence shall become death by hanging! Think that over well in your cell! Take him away, men!" Gregor ordered his knights, who seized Igthorne and started dragging him off. "I'm warning you, Gregor, I have not yet begun to fight!" Igthorne shouted one final warning, "Dunwyn will yet be mine, and you will grovel at my feet! My ogres will break me out, and I'll have the...!"

The rest of his rantings were lost as he was carried round the corner towards the dungeons. "Suppose the other ogres do try and break him out, Sire?" Sir Tuxford asked his superior.

"We'll just have to be prepared, Sir Tuxford; if they try, we arrest them and lock them up as well. Send out the knights to round up as many as you can; the more we can lock up now, the less the chance of...ah, Sir Gawain, so good to see you safe and sound," he smiled at the elderly knight approaching with his arm around Cavin, "I'm told you fought quite bravely during the fight. And have I got something to tell you..."

"You've seen the Gummi bears up close, haven't you?" Sir Gawain said with a knowing gleam in his eye, "I know; I've seen them myself. And aren't they everything you'd ever have dreamed they'd be?"

"Yes. My childhood fantasies have come true at last," the king sighed happily. "Oh, and that reminds me; you can come out now, we're alone," he called to the Gummi bears and Hundred Acre Wood residents, who crawled out of the hay bales they'd been hiding in since dropping off Igthorne, "Perhaps more of your Gummi magic may come in use now, if you could repair this castle to what it was before Igthorne started attacking it," Gregor proposed to them.

"We would love to, Sire, but first, you must swear your solemn word that you and Sir Tuxford will keep our existence a secret," Zummi told him firmly.

"Oh must I? To tell the kingdom you are real and have been watching over us..."

"I'm sorry, Sire, but until we know for sure there's no risk of bringing the Great Gummis back from across the sea, we can't take any chances," Grammi shook her head.

"Then you have my word as a nobleman," Gregor raised his hand.

"And mine as well," Sir Tuxford raised his too.

"All right then, let's see what we can do. _Dustum, blustum, repairum!"_ Zummi chanted out another spell, which caused a large tornado to appear and zoom around the castle grounds, slowly restoring everything to normal. It moved over the wall to continue its work-in the process uplifting a large stone slab to reveal Unwin, cowering behind it with his hands over his head. "Well, someone wasn't brave enough to stand in the face of danger," Cavin couldn't help taunting his frequent oppressor.

"Unwin, have you been hiding under there all this time!?" Sir Tuxford frowned sternly at him, "I'll have you know that this will count heavily against you becoming a knight."

"Hiding!? I wasn't hiding; I was, uh, doing reconnaissance to make sure they wouldn't dig in from underneath!" Unwin insisted, rising to his feet.

"Sure you were," Cavin chuckled under his breath.

"And don't make fun of me, Cavin!" Unwin grabbed him roughly by the collar, "Where were you when all this was going on, because...?"

"Hey, get your hands off him!" Cubbi couldn't help rushing forward and pulling Cavin out of Unwin's grip.

"You keep out of this, you...!" Unwin looked down at who he was talking to...and his jaw would have hit the ground if it could have. "A Gu...a gu...gum...gum...gum...!" he stammered, his eyes going extremely wide.

"Yeah, that's us," Sunni stepped forward as well, followed by the other Gummis, "Surprised?"

"GUMMI BEARS!" Unwin shrieked, leaping a good fifteen feet in the air in terror. Once back on his feet, he let out an ear-splitting shriek and took off like a cheetah towards the front gate with a loud, "HELP!" "Well at least he took it well," Tummi shrugged.

"Well, in the meantime, now that things are back to normal, why don't you all follow me?" the king told them and the Hundred Acre Wood residents with a smile, "There's something I'd really like to do for all of you now."

* * *

"Gummi bears, real Gummi bears!" a wild eyed Unwin shrieked in the faces of the knights in front of the crowd standing before the castle, "I saw them myself just now...!"

"Sure you did, Unwin, sure you did," the nearest knight burst into laughter, as did his colleagues.

"But I swear it, six of them, maybe more; they were going to...I don't know, but it wasn't going to be good!" Unwin insisted frantically.

"Right, and I suppose there were griffins and leprechauns there with them too," another knight laughed.

"You've got to believe me! The king was there himself; he saw them too! There, here he comes now!" Unwin pointed up at Gregor coming out on the balcony above them, "He's going to announce it to the whole kingdom, I know it, listen!"

Above them, Gregor cleared his throat. "My fellow subjects," he told the Dunwyn citizens below proudly, "We have won the day after a hard fight! Duke Igthorne's plans have been thwarted, and he is now, at last, safely locked in the dungeon, never to bother us again if we can help it!"

The crowd broke into a loud cheer. "Yes, yes, but the thanks goes to you," Gregor told them with another smile, "We all worked together to make this possible..."

"The Gummi bears; tell them you saw the Gummi bears!" Unwin cried up, "Tell them they're real!"

"Gummi bears? Oh come now, Unwin, don't tell me you believe such stories?" Gregor told him with a wry expression, "Just because all these people fought hard and you didn't doesn't mean you should bring up Gummi bears to make their accomplishments any less."

"What!? But...but...you were there behind me, you saw them too...!"

"Come on, Unwin, it's clear you need to see a doctor; we can tell you've got clear cut post-traumatic stress," one of the knights took his arm, "Maybe a week or so of treatment'll get you back to normal."

"I'm perfectly all right; I swear Gummi bears are real and here in the castle right now!" Unwin shrieked as he was dragged away, to the loud laughter of the citizens. "Now that our fair kingdom is back to normal," Gregor continued once Unwin was out of the square, "We can finally have our seven hundredth anniversary celebration. First, however, I have something personal and special to do, so if you'll all wait just ten minutes for me, we can begin celebrating."

He turned and walked back into the castle at a brisk pace until he reached the throne room, where his kingdom's saviors were standing before his throne. "And now," he sat down in it, "it gives me the greatest pride to say to all of you that, for services rendered in the name of Dunwyn, it is my distinct honor to name you all honorary knights of Dunwyn for life, with all the privileges therein. Have you anything to say before we begin?"

"I do: thanks for noticing me," Eeyore said, a rare deep smiling spreading on his lips.

"Oh very glad to indeed. Calla, will you do the honors please?" the king asked his daughter. With her own smile, Calla took a sword in hand and approached Piglet at the end of the line. "Kneel," she asked him, then tapped it on his shoulders, "Arise, Sir Piglet of Dunwyn."

"Oh my," Piglet sniffed, wiping away tears of joy, "This is one of the happiest moments of my life, even more then when I was knight for a day."

"Same here, Piglet," Owl declared grandly, rising after his own knighting, "This reminds me of the time Uncle Cornelius participated in that Fourth of July parade, remember, Uncle Cornelius?" he glanced up to the rafters, where all his relatives were perched. Calla, meanwhile, continued down the line, knighting everyone one at a time. "Pooh Bear, whether you are a Gummi bear or not, from this day forward, you are Sir Pooh the Great and Gummiful, and will always be welcome in this court," she knighted him at the end of the line, "And you will always be given anything you need."

"Well in that case, could I have a small smackerel of something, namely, honey?" Pooh inquired.

"I second that; I'm starving," Tummi rubbed his chest eagerly, "When can we eat?"

"Well, now that the danger has passed, and our seven hundredth anniversary can proceed, you're all welcome to join in the festivities," Gregor told them, rising up from his throne, "In private, of course, but well earned nonetheless. And if there's anything I can do for you Gummi bears, just name it," he turned towards them.

"Well Sire, we've been long hoping that one day the Great Gummis could return. We've been watching over this land as our forebears have, waiting for the time they can return," Grammi stepped forward, "Whatever you can do to ensure that the humans won't drive them away again, so they can come back..."

"Well, we'll see what I can do. I can't make any promises, but if the Great Gummis could return when I was on the throne, that would be the honor of a lifetime," Gregor declared, "To have humans and bears together again, living in harmony, that would be a great gesture of nobility and hope. And now, let us begin the grand celebration."

"Oh boy, celebrating aunty-verseries is what Tiggers do best, hoo hoo hoo HOOOO!" Tigger bounced practically up to the ceiling, "Let's party like it was last Thursday!"

* * *

 _"Dustum, blustum, repairum!"_ Zummi recited the restoration incantation from atop the Poohsticks Bridge. The same twister sprung up and blew all over the Hundred Acre Wood until it was exactly the way it had been before Igthorne had arrived. "Wonderful, just like new!" Rabbit was impressed.

"It's like he was never even here," Roo agreed. His expression saddened as he turned towards the Gummis. "I guess this is goodbye, then?" he asked sadly.

"Just for now, Roo; you and Pooh and everyone are welcome back in Dunwyn any time after all the help you've given," Sunni assured him.

"But how? We don't have any medallions to open the portal to your world here..."

"You will now. Pooh," Gruffi waved him forward and slipped one around his neck, "We decided the one Igthorne used would be better off in your hands. You're one of us now no matter what your heritage is. Use it well."

"Well, thank you, Gruffi. I know what I can do with it; now, I'll never be out of honey, and won't have to worry about bees anymore," Pooh chuckled.

"I'm not surprised. Well, time to get back to Dunwyn, Gummis. We've got to make sure this really is the end of Igthorne's reign of terror-and while we're at it, have a talk about being the Crimson Avenger without telling anyone," he frowned deeply at Cubbi.

"Hey, I did it to make a difference, and haven't I been doing that!?" Cubbi protested.

"Yeah, lay off the kid, Gruffi, he's done his job well," Grammi defended the cub. Gruffi groaned in frustration. "Beaten already," he muttered under his breath. "All right, let's get going."

 _"Undrite, acrite, oodrite!"_ Zummi opened the portal back to Dunwyn one last time. "Goodbye everyone," he waved the Hundred Acre Wood residents farewell, "Come back soon."

"Same to you; goodbye," Rabbit led the farewell wave back. The portal zipped closed once the Gummis had all stepped through, returning the Hundred Acre Wood to normal. "Well, that's that," Rabbit declared in relief.

"And too bad too; now we're back to boredom and nothing to do," Tigger mumbled in disappointment.

"Nothing to do? Why, we still have Kessie's welcome back party that we were going to have before Duke Igthorne showed up."

"A party for me?" Kessie was impressed.

"Of course," Rabbit patted her affectionately, "It was going to be a surprise, but no matter. Especially since you proved yourself brave and noble yourself in Dunwyn, so you particular deserve it as a big bird."

"Oh boy, two parties in one day, hoo hoo hoo HOOOOO!" Tigger shouted, bouncing Rabbit hard to the ground. "Some things never change!" Rabbit rolled his eyes.

"So what are we waiting for, let's celebrate again!" Gopher declared, leading everyone towards Rabbit's house.

"Indeed; this will make for the greatest family reunion we've ever had," Owl added, taking flight with the rest of his relatives, "Now we have so much more time to tell more stories, such as when Uncle Tucker here decided to join the traveling carnival..."

* * *

"...and it was a great party for both Kessie and all of us, Christopher Robin. And the best part was that I was given this medallion by the Gummi bears," Pooh told the boy, leaning against him atop the grassy hill, "Of course, I suppose I'll only have to use it for the best of things, so perhaps that leaves gathering honey out."

"Well if you're hungry, Pooh, I suppose it still counts as a good use," Christopher Robin took hold of the medallion and looked at it closely, "Looks like an impressive medallion, so you should be glad to have it."

"Which reminds me, Christopher Robin, I have wondered, do you think I'm a Gummi bear?" Pooh asked with furled eyebrows, "I don't know one way or the other, and I'm not sure if I'll ever find out. Do you suppose whatever bears came here before me were Gummis?"

"I don't know, Pooh, but that's not really important in the long run. What's important is, you're the best bear in the world to me, Gummi or not," the boy put an arm around him.

"I suppose you're right," Pooh smiled, "I suppose that as long as we do well with whatever life we have, we're all Gummi, or special, or something like that reversed. Still, it's good to know that maybe, you are special some other way," he held up the medallion, which gleamed, "Perhaps, Christopher Robin, we'll have to take you to Dunwyn one of these days. If I am a distant Gummi, maybe you're descended from a prince or so."

"Who knows?" Christopher Robin smiled, pulling Pooh close, "Silly old bear..."

THE END


End file.
